Daphne and I got up early to go enjoy the day in Istanbul. It is unseasonably cold here so I made use of all my layers today. We started with a Turkish breakfast including Borek and Turkish tea. mmmm.
After our van ride to the Bosphorus then a ferry ride across to the European side of Istanbul, our first stop was the Aya Sofia. http://www.hagiasophia.com/
The Aya Sofia was formerly a church with many mosaics of Mary, baby Jesus, and the emperor(Justinian). Then it was taken over and converted to a Mosque by Mehmet the conquerer. It had a number of large arabic signs and paintings on the underside of the magnificent dome. The architecture was notable for the large dome that felt almost like it was floating because of the way the structure was designed.
It was pretty cool to be in such an old building that was used originally for a church, then transitioned into a Mosque: interesting juxtaposition. D and I made friends from Kazakhstan because she strolled into a photo by mistake, and it turned out in the photo like they were posing together. Turned out we started laughing about it, then talking. Then we ended up purposefully posing in photos together. Hah!
We explored the cistern which was used to provide water to the people in this area of the town. Then Lunch: eating in Turkey is so wonderful for us non pork loving folk because everything is made with beef or chicken. No pork!!!
What a change from Spain (where they also have such good food)!
I had a great little chicken tomato dish wrapped in a filo dough. Then later D and I had a baklava. I may have to start rating the baklava. Stay tuned for my baklava top ten list....
if my phone starts cooperating (no photos now b.c. phone is not staying charged long enough to take anywhere...).
okay, getting ready for flight to Cappadocia.
hasta luego,
R.
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