Under and over Istanbul

Day 2 in Istanbul started with a visit to Topkapi palace - unfortunately timed to coincide with the tour groups from the cruise ships - resulting in the neck name Topkrapi from Tiva!

The harem was particularly impressive, as were the jewels - but no pictures allowed of those :(

Some good views across the Golden Horn from the palace:

We found the archeology museum much less crowded and the tombs very impressive:

Next stop was the underground of this post - the basilica cistern- which was rediscovered only in the last century.

That evening we had dinner on a roof top restaurant overlooking the Hagia Sofia and Blue Mosque

(Blue Mosque)

Aya!(Sofia)

Gorgeous sunset!

Istanbul - inadvertently epic?

We decided to take the scenic route from the airport to our hostel in Sultanahmet - this involved bus, ferry and tram, so we got to see lots of the city and experience seeing the old town for the first time across the Bosphorous.

After dumping our stuff at the room we headed out to start our epic touristing of Istanbul - first stop Ayasofya

(Think the cloud is pretty epic here too!)

Street food also went down well on the way there - grilled or boiled corn on the cob - yum!

Inside the decoration, including the renovated mosaics, is astounding - they were in the process of renovating a lot of monuments and museums whilst we were there...

Ayasofya is the name of the mosque - however it was originally built as a church and called the Hagia Sofia, converted to a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul.

Next stop was the Blue Mosque opposite - which was criticised for trying to outdo Mecca with its 6 minarets. The name Blue Mosque comes from the mainly blue patterned tiles inside.

That evening we an into a colourful man who ran a shoe shop around the corner from us - he treated us to some local red wine and a fish platter - yum! Thanks Hassan! :)