Istanbul with Mom

When I returned from Sweden, Mom had arrived in Istanbul!  It was really great to see her and we had a lot of fun revisiting some of the tourist stops we had already made in the city and adding a few new things to the mix.

Dad has shown Mom the Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar the day she arrived and we had planned on visiting Aya Sofya the first day I was back, but the line was literally around the block to get in so we changed our plans and went to the Basicila Cistern first.  We did do a silly photo where we dress up in Turkish clothes and sit like royalty, but it’s a print that I don’t have a digital copy of so that will just have to wait to be presented to the public for another time.

A new thing we decided to do was check out the Egyptian Bazaar or Spice Market.  Sadly on the walk there it began to rain so we did get a little wet and the experience wasn’t as good as it could’ve been, but it was a lot of fun to see what the different vendors had to offer.  In addition to spices, there were flowers, pets, pet food, leeches, and other random stuff like mops. 

This is a cool spice market guy.  You can see the wide array of spices and nuts and every other dry good Turkey has to offer.  I can say though that there was no garlic powder anywhere in Turkey, not even at the spice market.

This is Istanbul University.  We couldn’t go inside because a student ID was required but we did admire the exterior of the building which used to serve as the Ottoman war ministry. 

Because we weren’t taking the Pipedream up the Bosporus into the Black Sea, we decided to take a Bosporus cruise up to see what we were missing.  The timing was great and we walked out from the tramway right onto a boat which left right away.  This is a view of a castle that used to defend Constantinople and keep intruders from entering through the Black Sea.  It also shows one of the impressive suspension bridges that connects Asia and Europe.

The trip was a couple of hours to around the center of the waterway and back to Istanbul.  We counted a number of ships, ferries, and other boats cruising around.  We could also see the counter current and literally felt it push the ferry we were on back towards Istanbul.  It was nice to see, but didn’t spur any regrets.

We went out for a nice dinner on the terrace of a hotel/restaurant which not only served beer, which was requirement number 1, but had a great view of the water full of ships on one side and the Blue Mosque lit up at night on the other.  It was a cool night out and a nice walk back to the hotel.

We had planned on taking the late ferry our last day in Istanbul so we could see more of the city and do some last minute shopping. 

Mom and I got up early and were in line at 8:30am to get into the Aya Sofya which opened at 9:00am.  We stopped for a morning Starbucks and waited in line with a German couple who were there on a cruise.  The building itself was just as awe inspiring as I remember and it was a lot of fun to be able to share that moment with Mom too.

The ramp leading up to the second story reminded us of the Pirates of the Caribbean queue line at the Magic Kingdom.  This is my best pirate impersonation. 

There is a column in the base of the building that leaks a little bit.  People have touched it throughout time for good luck and it’s called the wishing column.  Mom and I both made wishes and of course touched where thousands have touched before.  There is a hole worn into the column that is surrounded by Plexiglas now. 

No trip to Istanbul would be complete without taking a final tour of the Grand Bazaar.  This was actually where I got most of my souvenirs for the trip to Turkey.  With Dad’s bargaining skills we walked out of there with all sorts of loot and at great prices. 

We took a taxi to the ferry port since we were lugging a hefty amount of luggage and found a bench to wait for the Esenkoy ferry.  The ferry that showed up was a lot nicer than the others we had taken but was also a lot fuller.  There were so many people going the same way we were and over half of them seemed to smoke which made for a very warm and stuffy trip back. 

The boat was there and waiting for us upon our arrival and it was nice to see it was still afloat.