Monday, June 9, 2025

I set my alarm for 6:45 to give me time to get sorted out before meeting Tammy for breakfast at 7:30. My phone had gotten disconnected from the internet so I called Tammy's room to check that she was up since I couldn't message. I slept really well! I felt like I was pretty much on Istanbul time. That's the advantage of staying awake most of the flight and arriving in the evening so bed is not too far off!

The breakfast buffet was quite lovely. They had a huge spread of Turkish food, as well as fruit, breads, and a salad bar. They had a coffee machine with lots of options. I had strawberries, a cereal similar to corn flakes with dried raspberries, a cappuccino, "scrambled eggs" that were runny and had tomato sauce and vegetables mixed in, two kinds of cheese, and I split a chocolate? muffin with Tammy. We went upstairs and got ready to head out. We went out and walked to the tram stop. We rode across the bridge and to the Sultanahkmet stop. We met Tammy's parents there and then walked to the cafe in front of the Blue Mosque where we had to get our tickets for the tour. 

We found our group and they told us we would leave in 20 minutes. Tammy and I went to the bathroom that was in a trailer. It was really nice. We had to pay about 15 cents to use the restroom and we could use our Istanbul Card to pay. I took a picture of a cat food vending machine where you could insert a coin and feed the street cats.

We joined our group and got a Bluetooth earpiece connected to our guide's microphone. We went in the Blue Mosque. We had to take off our shoes and wear a head scarf. We entered the mosque and our guide gave us an explanation. I had brought a plastic bag to put my shoes in and a street cat inside the mosque thought I had food for it and tried to jump up on me. We took pictures and looked around.

We went out in the courtyard and took more pictures before leaving and rejoining our group where we started. 

Next we walked to the Basilica Cistern. This huge underground cavern had 336 columns to hold it up. They built it to collect drinking water for the city. Now it is a tourist attraction. They have lights that change color every three minutes. There is still a couple feet of water covering the bottom and you walk on an elevated path made of metal. It was enormous!

Medusa

Our final stop with our guide was the Hagia Sophia Mosque. They were stricter on the dress code and my skirt got flagged because it had slits on the sides. I was slightly confused because they said that your skirt had to cover your knees and the slits in my skirt were well below my knees. I used a safety pin and hair tie to meet inspection. The result was that I was hobbled and had to take tiny steps. We went through security and started our tour. It was interesting to learn that the mosque was originally a church for many years, then it became a mosque before being converted into a museum. Then just recently it became a mosque again. 

We saw many murals and mosaics from when it was a church. There are murals of Jesus and Mary that are now hidden by curtains. You can see them from a balcony but are hidden from the ground floor where the Muslims pray.

Some of the mosaics were made out of gold. We saw places where golden decorations had been removed during the Crusades.

We headed to look for a lunch place. We found a small pedestrian street with restaurants. Tammy and I split a Turkish pizza with sections of cheese, meat, and mixed veggies and meat and Turkish meatballs. Tammy's parents preferred falafel and something else.

I went inside to use the restroom and found the restroom sign hilarious:

After lunch, we headed to the Topkapi Palace tour. We got to the palace and realized the place where we needed to get our tickets was back down the hill we had come from. Tammy and I went to get the tickets and Tammy's parents waited by the palace. Unfortunately, we were about 3 minutes late for the tour group that left at 2:30 so we had to wait until 3:00. We had fake black plastic radios on lanyards around our necks to identify us as part of the group, but they didn't actually do anything. We walked with the group to the palace and met up with Tammy's parents. We had all tried to download the audio guide prior to the tour, but most people were struggling with it. The tour guy got us into the palace and then into the harem section. After trying to get everyone's audio guides working and then giving up, we started our self-paced tour. Thankfully they did have a lot of signs telling you what you were seeing. The palace had over 5,000 people living there back in the day! We enjoyed the harem section where the women and children lived. It took longer than expected and we got separated from Tammy's parents. We tried to meet up with them at the clothing museum section, but the long line was actually for the royal treasury. We saw all kinds of amazing treasures.

Next we found the clothing museum. The fur-lined kaftans looked very cozy! We took some pictures from a outdoor area with a railing.

We met up with Tammy's parents and they said they were heading back to their hotel. Tammy and I went and quickly saw the 4th courtyard before hightailing it out of there. We quickly went back to the restaurant area and ate at the restaurant next to the one we had lunch at. I wasn't very hungry so I had a bowl of lentil soup, which was delicious. Tammy had a chicken kabob.

We quickly went back to our hotel (walk, tram, walk), and got our swimsuits for the Turkish bath. We had no extra time so we planned to walk quickly. However, we didn't realize that we had to climb several hundred stairs and then continue up a hill. It reminded us of Lisbon! We were out of breath. We made it to the Aga Hamami, which is the oldest Turkish bath in Istanbul, established in 1454! The inside was very neat with a fountain in the middle. 

We sat on a Turkish couch while we waited to be checked in. Our Turkish bath experience had three parts. First, we nearly roasted to death in the sauna room. There was a big heated marble slab in the middle of the room that you could lie on, but that was way too hot. There were several marble basins with hot and cold taps. You used a metal bowl to dump water on yourself. Splashing ourselves with cold water was the only way we tolerated the heat. We were sweating like crazy! We had to stay in there half an hour. Next, we went to a room where we laid on marble slabs and a woman scrubbed us with a scratchy mitt. It was not relaxing. After the scrubbing part was over, she poured massive amounts of soap bubbles on top of you and gave you a gentle massage before rinsing you off. Finally, they wrapped our hair in a towel and gave us a dry piece of fabric to wrap up in. We went upstairs and they had chaise lounges to recline on and they served us grape juice and Turkish delight. After relaxing for a bit, we got dressed and headed out to walk back. It was nearly dark and we had to walk down the stairs. There were a few other people out and we didn't feel unsafe. A few notes about the Turkish bath... Am I glad I did it? Absolutely! Would I do it a second time? Probably not. But I do have to say that my skin feels cleaner and softer than ever before! By the time we got back, it was 9:30. I showered so I could wash my hair and repacked my suitcase a bit for the next leg of our journey. I spent some time working on my blog and didn't go to bed until after midnight. I couldn't fall asleep until about 1:30.

Note: I am still missing a few pictures that are on Tammy's phone, but I want to get this posted so I'll add a few more later.