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Published: April 29th 2007
Sultanahmet Regıon
From left: the Topyakı Palace, Aya Sophıa, and the Blue Mosque. The next day was our final day of the trip and we were on the road to Istanbul. We stopped off and I paid up on my lost bet and our driver was very pleased with his new carton of beer. We eventually got into Istanbul, and by chance I had booked us into the Kumuka finishing hostel so we got ourselves settled and relaxed for the evening with a couple of cold ones. It was the night before Hayley's birthday, so we didn't stop at a couple and went out and sampled the Istanbul nightlife, which turned out to be pretty fantastic. It was also a bit sad as it was time for a few goodbyes as a few people were off early the next day. I was a bit worried that the city would be like Cairo, but thankfully it isn't at all and it didn't take me long to fall in love with the city. The Sultanahmet region especially is very fairytale like.
The next day I joined Michelle and her newly-arrived-to-Istanbul Mum in sampling the Grand Bazaar, and found it is nothing like the rest of the Middle East and is more like a huge
Aya Sophıa from the outsıde
Very artıstıc ıf I do say so myself. :) shopping mall. I got a few souvenirs and Arevik, you will be pleased to know, I have found some fiery orange socks! I have had all our group searching for them throughout the Middle East but we have eventually found them. 😊 The afternoon we checked out Aya Sophia, which was the central church in Christendom for over a 1,000 years, then was a mosque and now is a museum, and is still absolutely amazing. For over 1,500 years old, the saying "They don't build 'em like they used to" comes to mind. After visiting the Galata Tower at sunset (Interesting sidenote: In the 1600's, a guy flew 6km from here over the Bosphorus, i'm guessing on a hanglider-type contraction, and the Sultan was very pleased and was going to reward him, but changed his mind and exiled him to Algeria because he thought he was a threat. Logic there anyone?), the night was a bit more sedate and we went out for dinner for Hayley's birthday, then said goodbye to Michelle and Kim at the railway station as they headed off to further explore Europe.
The following day was a busy morning as we managed to find somewhere
Aya Sophıa
The ınsıde was huge, and stıll had remnants of the Chrıstıan frescoes as the next pıcture shows. The bıg dome at the top was called the Dome of Heaven, because thınk 1500 years ago and thıs would have seemed even more amazıng. that was showing the Cricket World Cup Final, and despite NZ crashing out in the semis, I was still keen to head along. So after visting the Blue Mosque in the morning, we were in the pub by 2pm, and, eventually after the rain delays, were treated to one of the better one-day cricket innings to have been played by Adam Gilchrist. I'm sure the pub didn't know what had hit it when the drunken chants of 100 or so Aussies were ringing about for several hours. After carrying the driver home for the last time of the trip (I count 3 times I have done it), it was to bed for my last night in Turkey.
For my last day, I had a bit to get done, but I joined Mark, Hayley, Brendo and Jacqui as we went to Galata Tower, then to get Brendo and Mark piercings, and Hayley a tattoo. I was going to join her but have to do a bit more research on my design. Sorry to leave you hanging there, but that's what I am going to do... The afternoon we managed to catch a Bosphorus cruise and we skipped between Asia and
Fresco of the Bıg Guy's Son.
Too hıgh for the Muslıms to get at, so they paınted over ıt. There could be alot more lıke thıs underneath the remaınıng paınt. Europe before heading back to the hostel for dinner, and my overnight bus to Marmaris, before jumping on a ferry to travel into Europe proper, into Rhodes in Greece.
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Esme McCuaig
non-member comment
Welcome
Hi James, Welcome to Europe. From Cambodia