Istanbul

We arrived on Saturday afternoon to IST. I was surprised how nice the Turkish Air flight was. The food was good, the seats comfortable and excellent entertainment system. Of course, an infant screamed for almost the entire flight.

By the time we got to the hotel, grabbed something to eat, it was time for sleep. We are staying in the Sultanahmet quarter of Instanbul. We can see parts of the Topaki palace from our bedroom, along with a nice view of Asia (we are on European side).

Yesterday, we spent the day trying to defeat jet lag. We had a fantastic breakfast at our hotel. I never knew I needed Eggplant for breakfast but I do. We walked around the area, and went into the Blue Mosque, which was lovely.

We also wandered around the Hippodrome, and gazed at Aya Sofia. We didn‘t go in. The area was very crowded and, wanted to stay in the sunshine.

We did see the spiral column (picture below), which was featured prominently in a non fiction book I read (1453) and in a fiction book (The snake Stone).

It was originally temple to Apollo at Delphi, and is said to have been cast from the armor of Persians that attempted invasion in 479 BC. And then was looted by the holy Roman empire and moved to Istanbul, sometime in the 300s. Originally it had snake heads at the top. Anyway, the head existed until they were either stolen during the crusades (1204) or when Mehmet II conquered Constinanople (renamed Istanbul) in 1453 for the Ottomans. The non-fiction account I read in 1453 differed from the accounts I have read elsewhere here. We always try to read about the history of a place along with fiction prior to visiting a place but our last few trips (Panama, Ecuador, Vietnam, Indonesia) didn’t offer as much depth of material.

We also walked to check out the Grand Bazaar but it was closed on Sundays. We did get caught in some torrential rain, where the streets flooded as we sheltered in a nearby cafe.

We also walked through the spice bazaar, and then across the Galata Bridge, where we got an excellent dinner. So far the food has been exquisite. Tonight we have reservations to see the whirling dervish perform. No other plans other than that. Ash is napping right now, struggling against jet leg.