It was a bit of a mission getting to Istanbul from Naxos; 6hr ferry, 2 hours on Athens underground, 16 person rickety plane to Istanbul then another hour on the Istanbul metro’s.
Still, we got there in the end and after a sleep and our nine lax days in the Greek isalands we were keen for a bit of speed touristing. So out in the Turkish heat we went a had a peruse of the Blue Mosque, Agia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, Grand Bazzar as well as other random spot around the city.
Sitting in the Blue Mosque
Agia Sophia was easily our no.1 tourist attraction, and yet we seemed to have the place all to ourselves.
It use to be some sort of Christian church which the Muslims plastered over and put up all there own art. Now it’s uncovered and so weird to see Islamic art next to Christian Mosaics.
Basilica Cistern was a close second, big underground aqueduct right beneath the main city streets. We didn’t even know it was there just kinda stumbled in.
Grand Bazzar = manic
We then left Istanbul and went for a 2 day tour around Anzac cove and the Troy ruins (see next post), but then returned to Istanbul for another two days. We deiced to branch out from the Sultanahmet / old town area and explore how modern day turks live in the city.
So over the bosphous and went for a huge walk around modern Istanbul. Still lots of mosques and other buildings but otherwise it could be mistaken for a lot of other mainland Europe cities, highlight was the modern art museum (big thumbs up).
Oh little Turkish tea how I will miss you
