{"id":287,"date":"2012-10-11T21:56:27","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T20:56:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/?p=287"},"modified":"2014-11-30T16:54:18","modified_gmt":"2014-11-30T16:54:18","slug":"thursday-istanbul-day-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/thursday-istanbul-day-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Thursday – Istanbul Day 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We knew today was going to be a long day. There were lots of things we wanted to see, but knew there was no way we were going to be able to see everything. It’s great having an overnighter on a cruise like this – mostly because it gives you the chance to see the place at night, but also because the extended stay allows you the explore that little bit more. But Istanbul is a place that is so immense, it’s almost impossible to describe. Certainly, our berth gave us a head start, but there was a lot of ground to cover, so we made sure we were up early, and off the ship soon after breakfast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We began by replaying our steps across the busy road and through the park that surrounds Topkapi Palace. It’s a beautiful park, with lots of little scupltures of bears and squirrels, and in the trees there is the constant chattering of parrots – real parrots… how cool is that?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our first objective for day 2 was to visit The Blue Mosque. Istanbul has mosques-a-plenty; almost any direction you look, you’ll see the domes and minarettes of mosques, some large, some small, but all very prominent and quite unique. The largest of the mosques, though – the one everyone wants to visit, is The Blue Mosque… and it is BIG!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

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As we approached it, we could see the queues… and they were LONG!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

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We’re British, though, and queueing comes naturally to us, and as it turned out, although the queue stretched around all four sides of the mosque’s outer courtyard, we weren’t stood in it for more than 10 or 15 minutes. At the point of entry (which was free… woo hooooo!), everyone has to take their shoes off. Shorts aren’t permitted inside the mosque (which I knew about, and was wearing long trousers), and women have to wear headscarfs (Tracey looked a right bobby-dazzler). Prayers are also called four times a day, during which time, no visitors are allowed, so timing can be crucial. You know when prayers are being called; every mosque in the city has loudspeakers attached to the outside of their minarettes, blaring out some musical version of the coran (I think) – I swear they’re all competing with each other – when they’re all sounding out the call to prayer, though, it’s really quite magical.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Was it worth the queuing? Oh yes! The inside of a mosque is basically an empty shell, but a beautiful shell at that. The floors of The Blue Mosque were carpetted throughout, and every wall is ornately tiled. Illumination came from an ornate lighting frame hanging in the centre, from the dome. The dome itself is supported by four large columns (known as elephant’s feet), although there are other columns, and alcoves around the outside. Only a small portion of the interior is reserved for visitors. Cameras are permitted, so there were occasional flashes, and the low murmur of people talking, and umpteen different guides talking. Quite stunning!<\/span><\/p>\n

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After the Blue Mosque, we headed towards Istanbul’s other big visitor attraction; The Grand Bazaar.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I thought Catterick market was big. I’ve also experienced the soukes of Tripoli, but nothing quite compared to this. This was a market and then some….<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Grand Bazaar is a huge covered market. Parts of it are older than others; fortunately, we had a map to tell us where those parts were, and also managed to avoid getting lost, a situation in which the unwary could easily find themselves. I’ll be honest; I like a market as much as the next man, and bright stalls of everything from carpets to gold jewellery to – well… everything, can be captivating, if a little overwhelming, but after a while, I find it starts to become a little claustrophobic, and not so interesting. Tracey’s tolerance level of such things is much higher than mine; after a while, I start to lose the will to live. Architecturally, it’s an interesting place, particularly the older parts. Bartering is something that is expected of everyone wishing to buy stuff there – both Tracey and I are pretty rubbish at it, though, and find the process all a bit of a trial. We paused briefly at one of the little cafes there (Ambrosia cafe it was called – highly recommended), for a drink and one of the best chocolate brownies either of us had ever had the pleasure of, before continuing on our exploration.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We did, briefly, manage to get lost, once we’d exited the bazaar. We were trying to find our way to another mosque and an aqueduct, but the streets around the outskirts of the bazaar are narrow and just as bustling. Each gate into the bazaar is clearly numbered, making navigation possible. The streets were a different kettle of fish. Finally, though, by hook or by crook, we found our way to the University of Istanbul, a grand building with a massive fire tower in its grounds, and popped into another mosque, which was devoid of any queuing crowds, but was no less impressive (slightly smaller, and unique in its own way, though – and exceedingly peaceful). Beyond that, we finally found our way to the Aqueduct; an impressive Roman (we think) piece of architecture, spanning a main road through the centre of the city.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Our time in Istanbul was almost at an end. Wearily, we made our way back to the ship, navigating the busy, narrow streets as best we could, pausing for a short while for Tracey to buy some Turkish Delight (not my bag at all, I have to say).<\/span><\/p>\n

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Leaving the city was just as visually impressive as arriving at it. It was 6pm when The Black Watch finally sailed out of Istanbul; the sun was setting behind the mosque-heavy skyline, and the skyscrapers of the newer city areas were aflame with the searing, golden light of the sun. To top the day off, it was an almost perfect sunset.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Farewell Istanbul – until we meet again……<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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We knew today was going to be a long day. There were lots of things we wanted to see, but knew there was no way we were going to be able to see everything. It’s great having an overnighter on a cruise like this – mostly because it gives you the chance to see the place at night, but also...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":288,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287\/revisions\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peterwoolley.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}