Saturday 4 September 2010

Not a great deal happening today – we have another early start as we are going to the Grand Bazaar, a major tourist shopping area; the Blue Mosque; Haghia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace.
We went to the Grand Bazaar first. The bus dropped us off at Gate 1 and this was where we had to meet it again in 1-1/2 hours. The Bazaar was huge but some of the vendors were not prepared to haggle. We were told if they said a price (in lire), you halved it to see what they would say. They usually added a bit more and then you could say your price. If OK, not a problem. If not, we walked away. The prices are very steep on some of these articles.
We came back to the bus and travelled to the 17th century Blue Mosque, which is a magnificent museum, and from there we walked as the bus couldn’t get through the ‘roads’. The roads are just narrow pebble stone walkways, not enough room for a car let alone a bus. Our bus drive, Kurter, could drive a bus anywhere; he is just great and does a superb job.
We also visited Haghia Sophia, a former cathedral which they are re-constructing but another which will not be finished in our day or our children’s days. It will take for-ever. This is one of the marvels of the World architecture.
In the afternoon we went to the Topkapi Palace, a walled city perches above the Bosphorous and the Golden Horn. It was also the home of Turkish Sultans for 400 years, and also where you can see the Treasury and beautiful Porcelain collections.
The view from the top of the Palace was magnificent. Your could look over the ocean to where the cargo ships were waiting to go into port and the cruise ships were coming in. It also overlooks the city of Istanbul. It was something.
Back to the hotel Conrad where we had another stay tonight. We said good-bye to Daghan and Kurter. They were both such good value and I would recommend our Tour Guide to any Insight tour. He was brilliant.
We ended up going for dinner with 10 other people who are also going on the cruise to the Greek Islands tomorrow. We should have done a dinner at the start of the tour as we could have met more people instead of having to do it on the bus as we were travelling.
We don’t have a wake-up call tomorrow, bags out or on the bus time. We have to leave the hotel and meet in the foyer for 12.
Hopefully we can write more on the ship but if not I will cut and paste in Word and send when it is available.