My day started this morning at 8:30 am (8 hours ahead of CDT) with a trip to the Hippodrome....a place where chariots used to race...a couple of obelisks were added to it, one of which was egyptian...it's been transfered to a beautiful park...
Then we were off to the Blue Mosque in a renewal of the teachings of Muslim. Five prayers a day, everyone SHOULD go to prayer...they recite lines from the Koran and then on their way...It was absolutely spectacular inside, just in awe of it all...
Then a sudden storm was popping up....thunder and lightning unbelievably cracked and then a torrential downpour...I mean torrential...me and another woman ran to the closest spot which was under the blue mosque in the absolution tanks. An absolution tank is where the people saying prayers need to cleanse their face, hands, neck and face before going in for prayer. So we were stuck under there and bonded. Her name is Carola nd here with her husband Michael from Australia. She's a delightful woman, they seem to travel a lot. They are heading to Egypt after the Greece/Athens trip. Been married for 30 years. So, the water level kept getting higher and we headed for higher ground and stood on some seats, and progressively had to move higher....finaly our tour guide in a panic finds us and we flipped him some crap about he's really good watching over us...all in a good laugh and my bonding buddy...one way to get to know people...there are a few other people by themselves as well, so I'm not entirely alone, both of which know the midwest which is a plus. And a family from Canada and one from California.
So took off from our water logged bonding experience on to St. Sophia which is another Greek Orthodox Church converted to a Mosque. It was ok, but much older and under renovation but the mosaics are amazing and I was able to get to the 2nd floor, everything is carved into stone or marble. Then from there we went to the Grand Bazaar. NOw, this was a little overwhelming and I got lost. So, I didn't stay too long as they like to grab you to bring htem into your stores and make you buy. Don't really like that. Might go back tomorrow, but we'll see.
After the Grand Bazaar, I went to the Topaki Palace. It was quite lovely, the home of the sultan who ruled over three continents and the Bosphorous straight. The best part of this tour was the one room that overlooks the Golden Horn and Bosphorous straight. Gorgeous picture.
Now, I have to go to dinner, fish and a show I think.
