I left my bags at the original Golden Horn and after sleeping in a bit decided to hit the streets and there were was the Sulyman Palace, the Sohia Museum, and the Spice market I was kinda keen on to visit if time permitted and the wait times were sensible. The rest of the time was gonna be just walking around in the very busy and active streets and just see what the locals, and merchants do on a Sunday...of course the whole place was overrun with tourists!
Never on the streets of Istanbul did I ever feel unsafe or uncomfortable...except maybe when I was lost and needing to get back to my hotel, but that was my the fault of my broken internal compass!
Funny story while I was walking to the Sophia Museum...I passed a younger Turkish guy and he struck up a conversation wanting to know if I was from America, of course I told him that was an insult to be called American. Right away he knew I must be Canadian and apologized, he told me a bit about the Sophia Museum and the Spice Market, as I had ruled out the Sulyman temple as I was gonna run out off time to see it all. This kind fellow offered to stand in the que for me and get a ticket while I visit his shop for a free Turkish coffee, he would also help me with walking directions to the market. Before I could figure out the clever strategy I agreed to see his store before the museum as there was no strings attached I was told. This was another of many family run carpet stores and I was ushered into the upper showroom and the Uncle was pitching me hard for a carpet...I knew this pitch and generosity approach from Cappadocia and declared I had already purchased a carpet, (not quite a truth), and was definitely not buying any more on this trip! So the young polite Turk was the nephew to the owner and obviously on a commission or finder's fee to bring in tourists...gotta watch those Turks cause they are good and know the tourist gig real well! lol
The Hagia Sophia is Greek for 'Holy Wisdom', and is one of the best surviving examples of Byzantine architecture. This building has a unique history as it served both Christians and Muslims, and has gone through extensive makeovers and renovations from earthquakes to looting. The Muslims had removed many cherished Christian relics and plastered over many of the original Christian frescoes and installed minarets and the largest circular medallions of their kind with calligraphed words to their prophet. From the date of its construction in 537 until 1453, it served as an Eastern Orthodox Cathedral and seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople except during 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire. The building then became a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931....then it was secularized and opened as a museum in 1935. Recently the Muslims have been in the news regarding this former mosque, and are praying at it for it to be turned back to another beloved mosque...its location is only about a 10 minute walk to the famous Blue Mosque.
It was indeed a very beautiful building and I met a gal from Turkey who was showing the museum to her friends from Toronto...we all purchased the audio tour but it sure helped to have a local informed Turkish gal to fill in the many blanks and answer my strange questions...glad I chose this museum and had the personal tour also.
The walk to the Spice Market was not too bad after asking multiple times for directions and it was a very popular venue with the locals and tourists alike. You could buy justa bout anything, including many genuine fake brand name clothing, but they specialized in spices and food related items as the selection and merchants was too numerous to count. It was a great place and throngs of people and had some great chats with the merchants while they bargained with you and aggressively tried to persuade to buy their items...I was quite used to this after 2 weeks of it and it's still always fun and love the free tastings!
Many hours of walking and photo's and a great day and the overcast skies kept the sun from being too uncomfortable and it was fun to be by the seaside and open patio areas watching the people and sampling different foods from the various mobile vendors. I love the roasted chestnuts...the big pretzel like bread was dry and the fermented cabbage and picked veggies in a cup was strong but good for the gut? lol
Grabbing my suitcase and towing it downhill on the narrow cobble stoned streets at night was okay cause the merchants never close and the tourists and locals never sleep it seems...checked into a nice room for about 90-Euro's and always anxious to check out the internet service, as it has become my key rating criterion for all my hotels.
The internet was borderline and slow as usual...I decided to stay up late and work on the blog to catch up and my arranged airport shuttle was arranged for a ridiculous 5:45-am. when my flight to Santorini was at 9:30-am. I had repacked my now bulging bags as the tourist books and stuff was taking up the very little room I had and before long it was approaching 4:00-am. I was tired and just needed a wee power nap before my wake up call...what happened next you can only imagine! I slept thru the wake up call and intended to have a shower but that all changed when I suddenly and strangely bolted from bed and it was exactly 5:45-am. I hadn't moved so fast in quite a while and prayed the bus be late...and it was by 5 minutes. Of course showering, shaving, and stuff was impossible and I threw the remaining items and my ipad in the backpack and as soon as I got to the lobby, and out of breath the bus driver was having my room called as his bus was packed with airport transfers and I was the very last hotel stop...Yikes!
The only available seat was at the very front and I met another Turkish gal that was heading back to her home and family in Irving, CA and had just enjoyed a getaway to Georgia in Turkey. We talked about lots and when the subject shifted to health and nutrition I soon forgot about my hasty hotel retreat and whether I had all my items in my bag?
Well I soon found out why it's important to get to the Attaturk airport in Istanbul early...crazy amounts of people and the passport validation que for non residents was insanely long! It was quite a modern and very developed airport once you got thru the security and the flight to Athens was about 90 minutes. My bag had to be retrieved and re-checked in Athens and that was a drag because they went thru all my oversized liquids and sun lotions, and had me quite interrogated. I now had only a few short minutes to make my connection to beautiful Santorini and the views from the plane of the island were stunning....can't wait to do nothing for a few days and no more tours, museums, or ancient ruins!! Well then my final city visit to Athens in a few days, so may just have to check out a couple ancient rocks and a museum, because apparently they are quite old and intact and worth seeing? :-)
Enjoy the pics of the Sophia Museum, Istanbul Spice Market, and the locals just being local!
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