27/6/2010 Istanbul, Turkey (Best of Istanbul with Harem Tour).
Just sailing into the port at Istanbul was like looking into a history book. Istanbul is one of the few cities in the world that spans two continents! Hundreds of Mosques, Churches, etc dot the landscape. We joined quite a few other cruise ships in dock, I counted at least three large ones as we came in.
The tour started with driving to our first destination - in our case this meant a 'selling' stop at a local carpet place. Let me tell you they make some very nice carpets, they gave us a lecture on how to tell hand made from machine made carpets and then started trying to sell us carpets. I don't begrudge them trying to sell us stuff, they fed us morning tea after all - what shocked me the most was one couple on our tour actually buying a US$15,000 carpet (Free shipping back to Australia included of course!).
Anyway fending off the Turkish carpet makers we had lunch and then got into the main part of the tour! Oh - the food was.. different from what I'm used to. The rice pudding desert was very nice, but as for the rest it paled in comparison to the lunch in Athens!
First stop was an Obelisk taken from Egypt! it was quite impressive, the locally made Obelisk wasn't nearly as nice - can you pick the difference? 
Next was the "Blue Mosque" - this one is called Blue because of the tile work on the roof, it was quite nice. Of course to enter a Muslim Mosque you have to cover your knees and shoulders (especially the women) - oh you also have to take off your shoes, so the place doesn't smell very sweet. The guard at the gate didn't look at me twice (my shorts come down to my knees - however Dave and Marylyn was another matter!!
Not exactly a fashion statement hey? well anyway they let us in and it was quite nice inside (except for the smell of thousands of sweaty feet).
Just across the way from the Blue Mosque is the Hagia Sophia - this is an awesome building! Built in 532 AD (yes THAT long ago) it was initially a Christian church and when Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman empire they were so impressed with this incredible building they decided to turn it into a Mosque (Hence the Minarets!). Back in the 30s they turned it into a museum. Getting the scale of the builing right is impossible in pictures, it's massive and makes the Basicallia in the Vatican look small!
It was very impressive to see and think about the history of this place - I believe our guide told us it's the ONLY place that's served as a Mosque and a Christian Church for such a long length of time! They're in the process of restoring it inside, but it's well worth a visit if you find yourself in Istanbul!
The other interesting thing - this is the only place you can see symbols of Christianity and Islam displayed in the same place - if you look at the next photo - take a note of the angel mosaic above the Arabic script! When the muslims used this place they had to cover over the angel moasic (due to them not being able to have images like that displayed) - but instead of destroying it, they covered it with plaster as a sign of respect.
Next stop was the old Sultan's Palace! very well maintained and impressive. Very ornate with some lovely gardens Our tour went into the Harem area (unfortunately no Harem girls, just where they lived). The amount of gold used in the fittings/etc is quite amazing.
After the tour we had some free time - so we sat down for a while in a cafe overlooking the harbour. It was strange to think that we were relaxing in Europe, looking out at a part of Asia!
Istanbul was a great place to visit and the sail out was spectacular!
The tour started with driving to our first destination - in our case this meant a 'selling' stop at a local carpet place. Let me tell you they make some very nice carpets, they gave us a lecture on how to tell hand made from machine made carpets and then started trying to sell us carpets. I don't begrudge them trying to sell us stuff, they fed us morning tea after all - what shocked me the most was one couple on our tour actually buying a US$15,000 carpet (Free shipping back to Australia included of course!).
Anyway fending off the Turkish carpet makers we had lunch and then got into the main part of the tour! Oh - the food was.. different from what I'm used to. The rice pudding desert was very nice, but as for the rest it paled in comparison to the lunch in Athens!
First stop was an Obelisk taken from Egypt! it was quite impressive, the locally made Obelisk wasn't nearly as nice - can you pick the difference? Next was the "Blue Mosque" - this one is called Blue because of the tile work on the roof, it was quite nice. Of course to enter a Muslim Mosque you have to cover your knees and shoulders (especially the women) - oh you also have to take off your shoes, so the place doesn't smell very sweet. The guard at the gate didn't look at me twice (my shorts come down to my knees - however Dave and Marylyn was another matter!!Not exactly a fashion statement hey? well anyway they let us in and it was quite nice inside (except for the smell of thousands of sweaty feet).Just across the way from the Blue Mosque is the Hagia Sophia - this is an awesome building! Built in 532 AD (yes THAT long ago) it was initially a Christian church and when Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman empire they were so impressed with this incredible building they decided to turn it into a Mosque (Hence the Minarets!). Back in the 30s they turned it into a museum. Getting the scale of the builing right is impossible in pictures, it's massive and makes the Basicallia in the Vatican look small! It was very impressive to see and think about the history of this place - I believe our guide told us it's the ONLY place that's served as a Mosque and a Christian Church for such a long length of time! They're in the process of restoring it inside, but it's well worth a visit if you find yourself in Istanbul!The other interesting thing - this is the only place you can see symbols of Christianity and Islam displayed in the same place - if you look at the next photo - take a note of the angel mosaic above the Arabic script! When the muslims used this place they had to cover over the angel moasic (due to them not being able to have images like that displayed) - but instead of destroying it, they covered it with plaster as a sign of respect.
Next stop was the old Sultan's Palace! very well maintained and impressive. Very ornate with some lovely gardens Our tour went into the Harem area (unfortunately no Harem girls, just where they lived). The amount of gold used in the fittings/etc is quite amazing.After the tour we had some free time - so we sat down for a while in a cafe overlooking the harbour. It was strange to think that we were relaxing in Europe, looking out at a part of Asia!Istanbul was a great place to visit and the sail out was spectacular!
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