Thursday March 24.
Our street is very cool. It is narrow, one way, and pedestrians share the road with speeding vehicles (including tour buses). It gets interesting. There are several small hotels, with restaurants and shops.
On our 13 km walk today, our first stop was The Blue Mosque, so called because of the blue tiles inside. Rose-Marie forgot her scarf/shawl Bobbie gave her for the occasion. To enter, she was given one and we removed our shoes. Inside, the floor is carpeted and comfortable for our feet. The workmanship and the vastness of the space were awe inspiring.
Looking for the entrance to the Hagia Sofia (Ayasofya) we found ourselves at the entrance of Topkapi palace. Might as well go in, we are here. The expanse of this property is impressive. The view of the Bosphorus was hindered by a bit of fog, What is impressive is the number of ships and tour boats. Apparently 150 large ships come through here daily. The museum houses artifacts from 400 AD to the 17th century. These include jewelled knives, sabers, pots, rugs, medals and more.
Outside Hagia Sofia there is a lovely park with a dancing water fountain. Hagia Sofia is undergoing major restoration inside. The frescoes and ceramic tiles are very damaged. This is definitely a multi year project. The place is massive and quite fascinating. There is a multilevel cobblestone ramp going up to the viewing gallery. It is well worth the trip up. You take a different ramp on the way down. There were several calligraphy signs with no explanation of what they meant. That is unfortunate.
Tonight's supper was at Turkuaz Gurme restaurant next door to our hotel. Although we did enjoy our dishes, we both found them a bit salty and did not care for the bits of rosemary in the dish.
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