Istanbul Day 3 - the Basilica Cistern

For our last major site to see, we went to the Basilica Cistern.  The Cistern is an underground chamber the size of a cathedral that was initially used to provide water to the nearby palace.  The vaulted ceiling is held up by 336 marble columns, which have now been nicknamed the "forest of columns."  When walking inside, it does indeed feel like a column forest.

This turned out to be the highlight of everything we saw in Istanbul.  The water was filled with fish, which was a bit of a surprise.  Also attesting to the coolness factor, there was a James Bond movie filmed here.  Gotta love James Bond.  

Istanbul Day 2 - the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia

Our second day (or first full day) in Istanbul we hit up two of the more popular things to see...the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.  We got a fairly early start, mostly thanks to the call to prayer waking us up around 5:30, but after a few cups of Turkish tea we were ready to face the day.

From the outside, the Blue Mosque looks like all the other mosques in town.  It is referred to as "blue" because of the blue tiles used in the interior.  

Beautiful, but very hard to get decent pictures inside!  And while neither of us were overly impressed, it was still a neat experience to go inside a mosque.  We had to take off our shoes and the ladies were supposed to cover their hair with a scarf, although the latter wasn't enforced at all.  

Next up on the Turkey tour was Hagia Sophia, or Aya Sofya, depending on which language you want to go with.  This one was way more interesting, possibly because I studied it was back when in an art history class and at the time never thought I'd get to see it in person.  Hagia Sophia started out as a basilica, then became a mosque, and now is strictly a museum.  It is massive, and even though the outside is fairly unpretentious, the inside is stunning.

Once inside, we lamented not having a tripod for the zillionth time, but balancing the camera on the railings got us a few decent shots.  

Hagia Sophia is also home to some incredible gold mosaics.

And, it is also the proud owner of some viking graffiti.  Way to go vikings.

Sorry for the super blurry photo :(

And that was our day!  By this point we are absolutely in love with Istanbul, even though it's a little annoying to have someone trying to sell you a carpet on every corner.  All part of the experience!

Thanksgiving in Istanbul

For the long Thanksgiving weekend, we decided to forego the traditional food-fest and celebration and instead get some traveling in.  So we spent our holiday getting up at 3:30 in the morning and flying to Turkey.  Not a bad deal, all things considered.  We got in mid-afternoon and took a taxi to our hotel in the Sultanhamet district, which is also known as "old" Istanbul. It was a very convenient location to stay as we were within walking distance of all the major sights.  After taking a few minutes at the hotel to catch our breath and regroup, we set out to begin exploring.

Since it was already pretty late in the day, we saved the major attractions for later and instead took the tram across the Bosphorus to the part of town referred to as "new" Istanbul.  First on the list was the Istanbul Modern, a  museum with a nice collection of modern art.  Mostly contemporary Turkish art, they have a rather stunning collection with a nice variety of themes.  A good way to kick off the trip!

Next up was walking along Istiklal Caddesi, or Independence Avenue.  Basically it's a walking street lined with all sorts of shops, restaurants, cafes, etc.  The guidebook refers to it as Istanbul's most popular promenade, and the amount of people there certainly confirmed that.  Despite the crowds, it was a lovely stroll.  We stopped at a little cafe for a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner of chicken curry, pasta in a yogurt sauce, grilled vegetables, and rice pudding.  Not exactly turkey and mashed potatoes, but delicious nonetheless!