A Photo a Day Keeps the Parents at Bay: Boat Cruise

Day 68 - Istanbul, Turkey:

It was a sad morning. I got up at 7 and showered and got ready to be downstairs for 8 in order to see Karen and Steve off. It was so hard to say goodbye to them. It didn't feel right! They're my side kicks! Or I'm their side kick more like it, aka their third wheel. There were definitely some tears shed.

After the goodbyes the remainder of us went to breakfast - bread, olives, tomatoes, cheese, and some cereal. It felt weird with just Moya, Greg, April, Andy and I!

I was out the door by around 9:30 and went straight for the Blue Mosque. I decided to spend the day to myself - I think I needed it. It was so hot out again. At the mosque the visitors entrance line was already very long. It was moving fast though. I had to cover up in another nurse-like wrap and in I went. It was absolutely beautiful and vast inside. The ceilings were endless. I spotted the information centre inside and went in. I woke the three men napping in there, but I wanted to find out if they had an English version of the Quaran to read. They used to, but they were all out unfortunately. That was my chance to get it for free, but oh well. They were very friendly and provided me with a lot of other reading material.

From the mosque I walked across to Hagia Sofia. The line up there was growing as well. I paid my 30 Lyra to get in and set off exploring on my own. It's no longer a practicing mosque so you don't have to cover up. It was absolutely stunning inside. I spent a little over an hour in there before heading across the street to the underground cisterns. The line up there was also getting bigger, but wasn't so bad just yet. It cost 20 Lyra to go inside, and was worth every bit of it. It was really cool to be underground and see this water network. The area was quite large and full of rows of pillars surrounded by water with what looked like cat fish in it. The floors were so insanely slippery and I was in my flip-flops so I had to hold on to the rail and walk in skating like motion. I was terrified I would slip under the rail and into the water.

Upon exiting the cisterns there's a nice little area full of restaurants in the shade. I walked through and sat at one that happened to be selling cold beer. They sat me at a nice table looking out at the park with a fan blowing on me. I ordered a meze plate which came with yogurt dip, a spicy dip, hummus, pita, tomatoes, cucumber, and stuffed vine leaves. It was so good. The gentleman was really nice to me and gave me his card so I thought I would tell the others about the place.

After lunch I went back to the hotel for 1 in order to shower before meeting the others to leave at 1:30 to take the tram down to the boat cruise pier. The tram was insanely packed. We were squished in like sardines. A creepy man with bad breath started talking to us so I couldn't wait to get off.

The boat cruise was only 12 Lyra (about $6) and was for 2 hours. We spent some of the time up on top soaking in the sun and would alternate between that and the air conditioned inside. It was really nice to see other parts of Istanbul. We saw another palace, some nice bridges, a fort, and the Asia side of Turkey. There were a ton of really nice and surely expensive water front homes as well. I'm not sure how far the boat went, but there's a possibility we went out to the Black Sea and back.

We took the tram back to the hotel, and it was just as crowded again. Moya and I got off a bit earlier and did some lantern shopping. I was determined to buy one of the Turkish colourful lamps you see hanging everywhere. We went to a couple different places and got some prices. We even ended up in the basement of one place where they were putting them together - it was a bit weird. April wanted to join us so we met her back at the hotel at 5:30 and then she joined us. We went back to one of the places Moya and I went and I ended up buying two medium sized lamps. I'm really happy with them. Then it was back to shower and get ready for dinner!

Everyone decided to go to the place I had lunch. The man seemed happy to see me back there. They were very attentive and it was very good service. I had a lamb stew type thing - delicious. He gave us complimentary apple tea. A man wearing traditional Turkish attire with a big tin jug type thing on his back walked by and the man from the restaurant pointed him out. He was carrying a type of cherry and apple like juice. The man from the restaurant (Ismael) bought us some to try. It was good! Shortly after, a table across the way of about 5 ladies covered in the black gowns from head to toe (can't remember what it's called) gave our waiter a cup of Arabic coffee to send our way for us to try. It was sort of orangey in colour and tasted like a mix of tea and coffee. It wasn't bad. I went over to say thank you to them and ended up sitting with them for a bit and chatting. Turns out one of them is a writer and used to work for a newspaper so I told her I did as well. She has written a book in Arabic that she wanted to send me so I gave her my email (she said there's translation so I don't have to magically learn Arabic to understand). Another one of the girls managed a school over in Kuwait. They were very nice ladies.

After dinner we split up a bit. Andy and I walked to get some beers and took them with us back to the Blue Mosque area to sit and people watch. It was a little bit horrible and I felt guilty that we were drinking on the last night of Ramadan with all of these devout Muslims around, but it seemed to be ok. We hid it quite well. There were a ton of wish lanterns being released into the sky and the fountain was all lit up again- it was beautiful. We caught the last bit of another of the traditional Turkish dance performances too. Istanbul is something else. It was a really good day.

Inside Blue Mosque: