Day 1 eventful ... Day 2 was just as eventful or even more
On the Itinerary for the day:
- Topkapi Palace
- Blue Mosque
- Chora Church/Museum
- Grand Bazaar
I am glad we picked OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel). They provided us with a tour guild just for Turkey (Effie by law could not give us tours in Turkey only Greece, they take their tourism very seriously) and he was a fountain of knowledge and with OAT we only have 25 in our group.
Hopped on a bus and headed to Topkapi Palace we headed their first before it got packed with people highly recommended that for any of you travelers headed that way... Amazing!!! A few must sees are the 3 or 4 rooms of gems and artifacts (Pictures not allowed inside) and the religion room that has a priest (not sure of the official title) that chats 24 hours a day 7 day a week.
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| Going in May everything was in bloom |
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| Can You Count The Mosque? |
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| Wild Cats and Dogs Everywhere! |
Then we took a short walk over to the Blue Mosque ... named Blue Mosque for all the blue tiling. We had to remove our shoes before we entered because it was fully carpeted wall to wall (Greg proudly showed off his love for the toe socks). Inside was a huge open space for praying they pray 5 times a day. Pictures don't do it justice
A quick walk around the Hippodrome to lunch at Pudding Shop Where Greg ordered a turkish coffee two very important things we learned
-one you have to tell them if they want sugar when ordering because the sugar is brewed in the coffee and can not be added after and
-second the coffee is served with the ground but don't drink them!!
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| Lunch Time! |
Then off two Chora ...
Chora Church was a alternative to Hagia Sophia because it was closed on Mondays. And I am so glad it was because we got to see some amazing Mosaics of the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary.
After Chora was what I had been waiting for all day the Grand Bazaar ... I know you are saying of course what woman wouldn't love a huge market of Jewelry, Rugs, Furniture, Gold, Clothes, and just about anything you could think of ... And yes I did pick up a little something that makes my hand very happy. Thanks to Greg's bargaining skills we got it for a good price =) After finding our way out of the labyrinth of 4,000 shops and countless gates of Grand Bazaar I was ready for a nap.
The day might be over but we still had the night ... All six of us dined outside on a crowed street and a few of us ordered a grand fish platter with fish we couldn't identify and all of us had wine and raki. And we ended the evening with something sweet... Hot chocolate and Baklava
I have to say that I like turkish Baklava better then Greek Baklava ... If you are there you must taste it and try more then one they come with all different kinds of nuts =) yummy My mouth is watering just writing about it.
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| Lamb Chops!! |
Stay tuned for more to come
Love and Laughs
Mia
