We arrived in Istanbul at 9:50 a.m., after flying 2 hours to Greece, and then 1 hour to Istanbul. We were absolutely exhausted on the plane, but I wasn't so exhausted as to not eat just my Greek-cheese bun, but to also eat Pallavi's! We easily met up with Pallavi's parents in Istanbul. Apparently their arrival in Istanbul had been fraught with issues, and they hadn't had a chance to see anything the day before when they had arrived. As such, we really wanted to make sure they saw the highlights in the time they had left.
Our room wasn't ready, so we put on what we needed for the day, dumped our stuff in Pallavi's family's room, and made it out the door. First stop: the Blue Mosque. I feel like everybody has heard about the Blue Mosque, however, what you've heard certainly isn't nearly as amazing as what you can see. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Contrary to my previous belief, the Blue Mosque isn't called that because the exterior is blue. Oh no, it's called that because it's filled with blue tiles on the interior.
I'm so glad I listened to Rick Steves' podcast on Istanbul, so that I could learn about Sinan, the architect of the Blue Mosque. He was right there in the class of 1500 with Michelangelo, Da Vinci, that guy who built St. Paul's ..... (oh man, I know this!!!!!), and all of those other Renaissance folk.
Next stop: the Grand Bazaar. When you enter the Bazaar through it's old gates, you start to see fun historical facts about the Bazaar on signs hanging down from the main arcade. For example, did you know that competition was banned in the Bazaar, so shops didn't have any names or numbers or signs? You just had to know which guy you wanted to see. The Grand Bazaar also appears like a mini-city. I think it had a mosque and some schools at some time. The odd thing is that it is all under one building. It's also the ultimate shop. You can shop and shop and shop for hours and never know what time it is or how to find your way out!
Pallavi and I will go back to Istanbul to see it properly before we leave, but if this is the first toe-dip into the city, I cannot wait to really dive right in!
Our room wasn't ready, so we put on what we needed for the day, dumped our stuff in Pallavi's family's room, and made it out the door. First stop: the Blue Mosque. I feel like everybody has heard about the Blue Mosque, however, what you've heard certainly isn't nearly as amazing as what you can see. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Contrary to my previous belief, the Blue Mosque isn't called that because the exterior is blue. Oh no, it's called that because it's filled with blue tiles on the interior.
I'm so glad I listened to Rick Steves' podcast on Istanbul, so that I could learn about Sinan, the architect of the Blue Mosque. He was right there in the class of 1500 with Michelangelo, Da Vinci, that guy who built St. Paul's ..... (oh man, I know this!!!!!), and all of those other Renaissance folk.
Next stop: the Grand Bazaar. When you enter the Bazaar through it's old gates, you start to see fun historical facts about the Bazaar on signs hanging down from the main arcade. For example, did you know that competition was banned in the Bazaar, so shops didn't have any names or numbers or signs? You just had to know which guy you wanted to see. The Grand Bazaar also appears like a mini-city. I think it had a mosque and some schools at some time. The odd thing is that it is all under one building. It's also the ultimate shop. You can shop and shop and shop for hours and never know what time it is or how to find your way out!
Pallavi and I will go back to Istanbul to see it properly before we leave, but if this is the first toe-dip into the city, I cannot wait to really dive right in!
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