Day 2: Sunday 30th October 2022.

Start: Istanbul, Turkey

Finish: Istanbul, Turkey

Currency: Turkish Lira

Temperature: 11 – 20, clear skies and sunny

Welcome back my literary friends!

This morning we were up at 7.30 am for an 8.30am departure on our walking tour of Istanbul. Breakfast at the Legacy Ottoman was vast! A multitude of vegetables, meats, cheeses, as well as the usual selection of eggs, cereals, yoghurt and breads. Our first stop was the Topkapi Palace where we spent an hour walking the grounds and taking in the historical relics and buildings. Next, we walked through to the Blue Mosque which our guide warned us was under construction, and was very limited in terms of what could be seen from the inside. Ordinarily, I don’t like taking photos inside religious places of worship, but I can honestly say there was nothing inside that was worth taking photos of. We then walked to the Hippodrome square where the Obelisk of Theodosius stands, having been transported to Turkey by the Romans, and a chunk of the missing ‘Serpent Column’ from Delphi, which I stood before only three days ago in Greece!

Several of our group then opted to follow our guide to his ‘lunch stop of choice’, Ramiz where we ate the usual Turkish fare (similar to Greece) of barbequed meats, chips and salad, or the same wrapped in bread or lavash breads.

The final leg of the walking tour today is the oldest Mosque in Istanbul, Hagia Sophia. Having spent time in the Blue Mosque by the sea in Fes, Morocco, there isn’t really a mosque I can imagine setting foot in and comparing to that experience. Hagia Sophia is a grand space and difficult to compare given the main feature of the space is the size and age of the structure. We waited in a queue for about an hour to enter and spent about 10 minutes inside. Our guide was fantastic as he gave us a plastic bag for carrying our shoes (as you’re not allowed to carry them inside the mosque alone, either they must be bagged or you must leave them on a shelf outside the prayer space). We then had about an hour to ourselves to return to the hotel and pick up beverages for the optional sunset boat ride our guide arranged for us. For 10 Euro, we had an hour sailing on the river and enjoying the sunset across Istanbul. It was absolutely worth the money, we had the entire boat to ourselves (I had to laugh and send a photo of it to my friends from the Balkans trip after our hilarious experience on the boat to the island from Dubrovnik!) and had the opportunity to bring whatever drinks we liked on board, (beer from convenience store, $2AUD for 500ml). Mustafa put some music on and we took in the scenery as an orange glow descended across the city.

For the evening a few of us walked across the bridge to the other side of the city, checking out the restaurants in the process. My roommate and I shared a Meze plate (plate of dips and lavash breads) for dinner, given we’d had such a big lunch. We then strolled back to the hotel for a relaxed bedtime in preparation for our long day of travel tomorrow.

Tips:

Mosques in Turkey require women to cover their hair as well as their shoulders and knees, so if you don’t want to borrow or buy a scarf, be sure to pack one.

Palace Entry - 320 TRY
Accommodation: Legacy Ottoman Hotel, Istanbul