Started our day with breakfast on the roof terrace of our hostel. The bread is delicious - especially topped with sour cherry jam. Matt had mystery meat but I declined.
The first day we arrived was the last day of a holy month for Muslims, Ramadan. They do not smoke, eat, or drink (not even water) until after the sunset for a month. This first day, after 7:30pm, everyone was eating (as my dad would say) like they were going to the gas chamber and it was their last meal.
This festival of Eid is 3 days long. What we did not realize was that this means a lot of things are closed.
On day 2, we saw the Blue Mosque which had lovely soft carpet; to enter you must remove your shoes of course. The decoration is beautiful.
The first day we arrived was the last day of a holy month for Muslims, Ramadan. They do not smoke, eat, or drink (not even water) until after the sunset for a month. This first day, after 7:30pm, everyone was eating (as my dad would say) like they were going to the gas chamber and it was their last meal.
This festival of Eid is 3 days long. What we did not realize was that this means a lot of things are closed.
On day 2, we saw the Blue Mosque which had lovely soft carpet; to enter you must remove your shoes of course. The decoration is beautiful.
We then visited the area where the Hippodrome used to be; the hippodrome was where the sultans would watch chariot
races. In this area now, we visited the Rough Stone Obelisk, the Spiral Column (which used to have bronze serpent heads as part of a fountain but is gone after being stolen during the 4th Crusade), Oblisk of Theodosius (stolen by Theordosius from Egypt), and the Kaiser Wilhem Fountain, which was not stolen but was a gift from the Kaiser. 
We tried to visit the Grand Bazaar - a Townsend woman's dream come true - bargains you continue to haggle over, but it was closed.
I was lured by my curiousity into a shop where a Kurdish tribal man spoke to us of this project he and his family run. In short, they work to keep the carpet making business a tradition thing so each carpet is unique and made with non-synthetic materials. He laid 20+ carpets for us to just discuss and talk about the culture.
After seeing many carpets and learning many different things -- I started asking prices and preparing myself to haggle. After much debate and some words exchanged in German or English whispers, Matt and I bought a Kilim carpet (traditional Turk Kurdish) which serves traditionally as a table, tablecloth, and chairs. All houses in the traditional Turk Kurdish areas serve guests and share meals this way. We purchased a design called the tree of life.
I haggled him down 25% and realized that I have money some people dont and felt bad for further haggling.
Next was visiting the old town's cistern - where water and even if you were lucky, a fish - would be accessible after dipping your bucket in. There are 363 columns supporting this under ground structure which was built in 1532 AD by Emperior Justian. It measures 70 yards x 160 yards.
There are 2 Medusa heads carved from stone in the back of the cistern - one is upside down and the other is on its side. There is reason why but too much to type now... Google it.
We took a nap and planned to go to the Aya Sofya; currently a mosaic museum but used to be the capital's mosque (before the Blue Mosque) and BEFORE that it was a Christian church or catherdal. Nonetheless - it is amazing. It was built in 1537 AD by Emperior Justinian.
We started walking out of the old Sultanhamet town to cross a bridge towards the Galata Tower as a recommendation by our London friend (who is originally Turkish) Havva. As her suggestion, go visit it at sunset. It has been very rainy here and there was no sun and thick clouds. We got half way across the bridge and changed our minds so turned back.
Next stop was Hamdi Restaurant - as per Havva's suggestion(she actually gave 90% of suggestions on this trip - THANK YOU HAVVA!). It was very lovely as we sat on a 3rd floor of the restaurant looking out over the Bosphorus River.
Afterwards we walked back towards our hostel and had shisha (Nagile) pipe at the restuarant next door. The tea was free - why? Well,... we had lunch at this 2nd day at the restaurant next door to our hostel - it was great food for a great price and the host, Fiko, was fun and chatty. Both of which we like in people. He invited us back for a tea later and we took him up on that as well as sat on his comfortable couches and smoked our mint apple pipe.
I was lured by my curiousity into a shop where a Kurdish tribal man spoke to us of this project he and his family run. In short, they work to keep the carpet making business a tradition thing so each carpet is unique and made with non-synthetic materials. He laid 20+ carpets for us to just discuss and talk about the culture.
After seeing many carpets and learning many different things -- I started asking prices and preparing myself to haggle. After much debate and some words exchanged in German or English whispers, Matt and I bought a Kilim carpet (traditional Turk Kurdish) which serves traditionally as a table, tablecloth, and chairs. All houses in the traditional Turk Kurdish areas serve guests and share meals this way. We purchased a design called the tree of life.
I haggled him down 25% and realized that I have money some people dont and felt bad for further haggling.
Next was visiting the old town's cistern - where water and even if you were lucky, a fish - would be accessible after dipping your bucket in. There are 363 columns supporting this under ground structure which was built in 1532 AD by Emperior Justian. It measures 70 yards x 160 yards.
There are 2 Medusa heads carved from stone in the back of the cistern - one is upside down and the other is on its side. There is reason why but too much to type now... Google it.
We took a nap and planned to go to the Aya Sofya; currently a mosaic museum but used to be the capital's mosque (before the Blue Mosque) and BEFORE that it was a Christian church or catherdal. Nonetheless - it is amazing. It was built in 1537 AD by Emperior Justinian.
We started walking out of the old Sultanhamet town to cross a bridge towards the Galata Tower as a recommendation by our London friend (who is originally Turkish) Havva. As her suggestion, go visit it at sunset. It has been very rainy here and there was no sun and thick clouds. We got half way across the bridge and changed our minds so turned back.
Next stop was Hamdi Restaurant - as per Havva's suggestion(she actually gave 90% of suggestions on this trip - THANK YOU HAVVA!). It was very lovely as we sat on a 3rd floor of the restaurant looking out over the Bosphorus River.
Afterwards we walked back towards our hostel and had shisha (Nagile) pipe at the restuarant next door. The tea was free - why? Well,... we had lunch at this 2nd day at the restaurant next door to our hostel - it was great food for a great price and the host, Fiko, was fun and chatty. Both of which we like in people. He invited us back for a tea later and we took him up on that as well as sat on his comfortable couches and smoked our mint apple pipe.
On day 2 we walked between 11-12 miles.
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