Day 3 istanbul

We woke up to another beautiful day.  After breakfast, Maria and Jorg met us at our hotel.  Maria was feeling better after a good night's sleep.  It was really nice to see her again. Our morning was a repeat of the previous day, waking through the busy little alleys of hundreds of merchants, making our way to the Sultanahmet area.  Our destination was the Spice Market, from where we planned to navigate to one of the local eateries for breakfast. Somehow we got waylaid in the winding streets and found ourselves in the Grand Bazaar! It was similar to the Spice Market  but on a much larger scale and seemed to have every thing under the sun. The gold section was immense with all kinds of baubles, bangles and beads made from 22 to 24 carat gold. The carpet section was also huge, staffed with persuasive salesmen armed with the most original lines intended to get you into their shops. Finally, as it was getting late and they still hadn't had breakfast so Maria and Jorg settled for a bagel from one of the street vendors washed down with fabulous fresh and sweet O.J.

We were hoping to get into the basilica cistern as we had missed it the last time we were in Istanbul but, when we got there, there was a long line in the hot sun waiting to get in, so we decided to give it a pass and try again another day. As an alternate, we chose the Blue Mosque but as luck would have it, we got there at prayer time, and unless we were prepared to go in and pray, we would have to wait. So we went to the Hagia Sofia.  At the entrance, we met a smooth talking guide who was just overflowing with knowledge about the Hagia Sofia. We managed to get a discount from his somewhat exorbitant price and hired him to show us around the church which was undergoing major renovations and had a large scaffolding occupying half of the main room. His talk covered the Greeks, the Romans, the Mongols and the Hittites and a bunch of other less known people finally leading up to the Roman Emperor Justinian who built the church in the 5th century. It was a lot to take in!

Later in the day we met up with Norma, our Iran tour leader, for a pleasant dinner at the Pudding Shop after which we headed for our respective accommodations.  We were all exhausted after such a busy day.  Being here with our good friends is great.