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!