MunchiePui: Day 5 (Istanbul, Turkey Day1)

Next stop Istanbul!

Istanbul is the only city in the world that sits on two different continents. It is a city full of culture and influences from both the Western and Eastern world. Here is a map where you can see the division of the two continents more clearly:

We arrived into the city as the sun began to rise. We had an early tour so we were able to catch a glimpse of the city touched by the early sunlight.

After eating breakfast, we met with our tour guide. Germain booked our onshore excursions through travelocity instead of through the cruise. It was great that he did too! We saw all the people who booked their tours with the cruise line and they were by the bus loads of 50 people. We paid half the price (because we had a coupon code) and we had a private tour! And this tour was about 8 hours long too! The guide was super nice and he even took us to see things that were not on the itinerary.

First stop The Hippodrome: This square was social and sporting center back in the time of Constantinople. There is not a lot that still stands, but the square is still an open area for people to meet.

Mable obelisk from Egypt

From there we had a short walk to the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (better known as the Blue Mosque): which is an iconic landmark of Istanbul. It was built in the 17th century under the orders of Sultan Ahmed the first. It is the only mosque with six minarets. Normally a mosque ordered into construction by a sultan only had four minarets and one by a queen only has two. This Blue Mosque gets it's nickname by the prodominately blue interior created by the detailed tiles. In the past, whenever a family membered passed away, they would bring their prayer rugs to the mosque where it remained. The floor was lined with traditional turkish rugs. However, people would eventually steal the rugs because they can be worth a lot after some time. Nowadays, it is a standard Islamic carpet that covers the whole floor.

Inside the outer gates

Inside the Blue Mosque

The smaller domes support the larger main center dome

The decoration of this Mosque is created by a tiny tile.

Look how wide the pilars are!

From there, we had another short walk over to the Hagia Sophia (also known as Sainte Sophie). This is a building from 532 AD during the Byzantine Empire, originally constructed to be an Orthodox Basilica (church). From there, it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. In the 15th century, when Constantinople was conquered by a Turk Sultan, he ordered the church to be converted into a Mosque. Othodox images were plastered over and Islamic features (such as the minarets) were placed in/on the buidling. Today, it sits as a museum opened to the public for visits.

The Hagia Sophia from a distance

Huge doors!

This is one single piece of marble carved into a vessel to hold oil for lamps

A pillar orginally from the Temple of Artemis (one of the 7 classical wonders)

Domed ceiling. Notice how the cherub faces are covered

The private area for the King

We then walked a little further in the old city and reached the Topkapi Palace. This palace, built in the 15th century, served as the primary residence for the sultan for about 400 years. After walking through the main gates, there is a wide open garden. Must have been great for morning strolls. We visited different areas of the palaces including the harem, the imperial council and the imperial treasury and weaponery. For security reasons, I guess, pictures were not allowed in some areas.

The imperial gates of the Palace

The garden

The path the Sultan would ride in the Harem

Fancy fireplace

Mother of Pearl decorated cabinet doors

The "lounge" area of the Harem for the queen mother

More detailed ceiling work

"Hat Holders" =P

So detailed!

The princes' room

By now we've worked up quite an appetite! Luckily our tour included a turkish lunch! We were happy to sit more than anything!

Next, we visited the Basilica Cistern. This place was not originally on our itinerary, but we were very interested to see it so our guide was kind enough to take us there. It is an underground location where people use to store water. Currently, they have a path and lights installed so the public can visit it. It is huge!! It is approximately 453 ft by 212 ft - about 105,000 sq ft in area - capable of holding 2,800,000 cubic feet of water. Can you imagine how it was when it was filled completely with water?!

Very impressive view

After the cistern we were able to visit a traditional turkish rug company where generations and generations have been making detailed turkish rugs by hand. I felt bad about taking pictures, but some of the rugs were really beautiful......and expensive! Afterwards, we walked to the Grand Bazaar. It is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. It was interesting to see and there were a lot of things to buy, but I hated that they rarely ever put the prices of the items. Bargaining is expected in the country and we were sure that we were getting the tourist price most of the time =P

Colorful buildings

Inside the Grand Bazaar

Gorgeous Lanterns.........too bad I couldn't bring one back

Pretty Bowls.......I wanted these too!

Turkish Delights anyone??

So that concluded our first day in Istanbul. It's is a really intresting city with a lot of culture and a lot to see. We only saw a small portion of the city. I'm sure you can spend a week there and still not visit everything. Luckily we still had half a day the next day to look around. And being docked overnight allowed to have a beautiful nigh skyline of the city!