Last day in Turkey we visit the largest city of Istanbul. Having been a significant city for thousands of years in the region the city is full of hitory. We started the day in the Old Town that was within the old city walls. The Hagia Sofia is normally closed on Mondays but NCL made arrangements to have it open exclusively for NCL excursions. We got there early, before they opened and weren't ready for us so our guide took us to the Blue Mosque instead.

Fortunately we dressed appropriately. The kids even brought shawls which they did have to ear. The Mosque staff does have blue shawls available for those who need it. I saw both women wearing them covering their tank tops as well as men wrapping them around thier waists as a long skirt covering their shorts. After taking our shoes off and putting them in the provided bags we entered the Mosque. There is a small area where tourists are allowed to check out the mosque. The remainder is available for those who wanted to pray.

The tile work was of course incredible. Some of the interesting details were the iron work on the huge chandeliers that hung barely over our heads. Most mosques have a patchwork of rugs on the floor but this one had a single huge rug covering the entire floor

We then headed back to the Hagia Sofia where we checked out the outside first. We could see the ruins from previous structures at this site which were built on top of previous structures.

Once inside we enjoyed the total lack of crowds. Our little group of 10 tourists were the only people inside the building, along with a handful of cats. The guide Tuly showed us how the buidling was originally a Christian cathedral and fortunately the original Christian art was simply covered over. When the layers of plaster were removed most of the original art was in-tact.

After that we crossed the inlet to have a wonderful lunch at a nice hotel right on the Straight. We ate outdoors and enjoyed the view of the boats going by and the huge bridge that connects the continents.

Finally we returned to the Old Town and visited the old Palace. There we walked the grounds a bit and checked out the museum pieces. The Treasury was impressive, lots of jeweled pieces such as swords, daggars, candle sticks and even a solid gold and jeweled crib.

However, what we found the most interesting was the section of the museum housing religious artifacts. There are items such as a cast of Mohammad's footprint, Joseph's turban and many others. Fascinating.


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