A Taste of Istanbul
20.10.2019
24 °C
The view from our hotel window turned pink as the sun slowly rose over the Topkapi Palace on the banks of the Bosphorous in the heart of old Istanbul and we knew we were in for a glorious day. After a delicious breakfast we headed to the Blue Mosque. The same guy whom we had seen on our last visit 8 years ago was still vacuuming the carpet after morning prayers...
However, the Mosque is currently being renovated and the beautiful blue domes cannot be seen from inside. The interior of the nearby Hagia Sophia is also under renovation but this 916 year old church cum mosque cum museum looked pretty good against a clear blue sky...
With two of our 'must-see' sights done by lunchtime we became besotted with Turkish food and couldn't resist the baklava...
Baklava is everywhere here, but so is turkish delight...
Istanbul's ancient Spice Market is a good place to look at the displays of baklava and turkish delight.
The vendors in the Spice Market have all manner of products on display. There are, of course, still plenty of spices...
And numerous herbal teas...
With our eating and drinking done it was time for an afternoon cruise on the Bosphorus. We only have two days to re-acquaint ourselves with this historic city and with the crush of tourists we were feeling a little rushed. But once we left port in Europe it was calm sailing under a perfect sky and we had great views of the Büyük Çamlıca Camii mosque on the Asian side of the city - just one of the 2944 active mosques in Istanbul.
Now a short rest before braving the restaurant touts and the threat of more wonderful food.
Posted by Hawkson 08:00 Archived in Turkey Comments (6)