Istanbul

This morning we arrived in Istanbul. We docked about a half hour late, maybe because there were several other cruise ships in port. It's been a cloudy day, and the high was only 60. But it's not as windy as it was yesterday.

We met our guide, Hela, outside the terminal and we were off. Istanbul has two sides: one in Europe, and one in Asia. They're connected by several huge suspension bridges. We stayed on the European side today because apparently the Asian side is mainly residential. It would have been nice to say that we were in Asia, but tomorrow Ephesus is in Asia, so we can still say we were there.

First we went to the site of the Hippodrome. This was used for horse races in the time of the Romans, and is now a public square with several ancient columns and obelisks. Our next stop was the Blue Mosque. I think it's official name is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque after the ruler who built it, but because it is decorated inside with tile coveredin blue designs, it is called the Blue Mosque. This is the second biggest mosque in the city. Inside it is really beautiful. The tiles are very pretty, and apparently they are quite famous because of how and where they were made (the Nicea area).

Next we went to Hagia Sophia, which is actually right across the street. The current building is actually the third Hagia Sophia, but it was built in the 500s. After the city was captured from the Byzantines, it was converted to a mosque and the mosaics inside were plastered over. Then when Turkey became a republic in the 1920s it became a museum and the mosaics were uncovered, so you can see both Christian and Islamic decorations inside which is quite interesting. It's a very impressive building, and until St. Peter's in Rome was built it was the largest dome in the world.

Our next stop was the Byzantine cistern. This was also built in the 500s, and was only discovered about 20 years ago by accident. There was a water shortage in the city, but some citizens found the water in it and were using that. By chance some archaeologists saw this, and when they checked out the hole they found this place completely intact. The columns used in it were scavenged from other buildings, so they're mismatched, and several are even supported by Medusa heads that were from an ancient temple.

After that we checked out the Topkapi palace where the Ottoman sultans lived. It has an impressive collection of items, including the world's second largest diamond, and pretty much gold- and silver-plated everything.

We spent an hour in the grand bazaar, but it was extremely crowded and full of pushy salesmen. And it's very smoky because everyone here seems to smoke. So we weren't impressed. Our last stop was the Spice Bazaar, and we liked that a lot better. Less crowded, cheaper prices, no haggling, much better. Zach & I loved seeing the huge piles of spices for sale (anyone need a giant barrel of tea?).

We got back to the ship a little early, which was fine because we had already walked 6.5 miles! Tomorrow we don't arrive in Ephesus until noon, so it will be nice to sleep in for a change.