Tour 2009 - Churches, Mosques & Bath Houses Oh My! - Turkish Bath, Grand Bazaar and Bosphorous Cruise

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After a disappointing dinner, Barry and I decided to experience a Turkish Bath... We went to one of the most famous baths in Istanbul, The Cemberlitas Hamami, built by architect Sinan in 1584. It is one of the most important works of the 16th century Ottoman architecture. As I have never experienced a Turkish bath before - I had no idea of what to expect... Barry had apparently visited one in Damascus years ago so was familiar, I however, was not. We signed up for the "luxury package" and Barry went off to the men's section, and I the women's. I was led to a locker room, and given a towel and slippers. I then was escorted into a huge, domed steam room, totally clad in white marble. The "attendant" then proceeded to whip off my towel (I'm now standing there totally naked) and ordered my to lie onto this marble podium. I didn't want to argue with her, (seriously, I wouldn't want to mess with her!) and I lay on the hot marble "relaxing" for about 30 min. After the half hour of relaxation in the steam area, the attendant, clad only in a black bikini, proceeded to scrub me down with a loofah sponge. Seriously, given the amount of skin that came off with it, I was surprised I had any left! It wasn't a bad experience, but I was certainly exfoliated! Next came the soap down... I was scrubbed and massaged from head to toe, rinsed, taken over to another area to wash my hair, then sent off to the hot pool to unwind. After the hot soak, I then had the 30 min oil massage. It was heavenly. (Barry would have a differing opinion on his experience - he ended up with some bruising!!) Anyway - a unique experience for sure... I would do that again, at least now I would know what to expect 😊

This morning, we started off at the Grand Bazaar... this covered Bazaar commissioned by Sultan Mehmet II in 1461, this market covers over 200,000 square meters and consists of a labyrinth of over 5000 stores and shops, selling everything from trinkets, to carpets and jewelry. Once you get in you end up lost and if I was allowed to shop - I would have. I was cursing Barry for putting Istanbul first on our Itinerary instead of at the end... The shopping would have been fabulous! Leather shoes, purses, jackets, wool/silk scarves (I did sneak and buy one), carpets, ceramics and just about everything else... booo! I don't understand why Barry wouldn't want to carry an extra 5 kg or so on the back of his bike?
Next was the Bosphorous cruise... So Istanbul geographically spans two continents (Europe and Asia) and borders two seas, (Marmara and The Black Sea) separated by the Bosphorous River. There are two bridges that connect the two continents, (The only ones in the world to make that claim) one being the infamous Bosphorous Bridge. The bridge itself is quite the marvel... As it is the 5th largest in the world and second largest suspension bridge in Europe. Its total length is 1560M and is 1074M between both Pylons. Over 200,000 vehicles cross into the other continent every day. the second bridge was built in 1988 due to the traffic volume and is smaller in length, crossing the river at a narrower point. The cruise took us from the Galata Bridge, all the way to the second bridge. It was very scenic along the way...
I should mention, that prior to the cruise, Barry finally had his fishwich sandwich... Maybe now he'll stop talking about it in his sleep!!! Today was our last day in Istanbul 😞 Tomorrow we set out on the bikes... weather is suppose to be nice, and there are bike trails leading out of town... we'll see how that goes. For our last night, we have a lovely dinner planned atop a rooftop terrace overlooking the Blue Mosque. Hopefully will be able to get some night shots of the Mosque - beautiful all lit up. Afterwards, we will have a beer and suck on a Huka...
This might be my last entry for a few days, not sure when we will get hooked back up to the Internet... Till then!

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