Sorry that hotel wifi challenges delayed this update. Rest assured we are fine and having a very intense introduction to Turkey and the history we both missed or forgot years ago.
Monday, flight from Singapore was packed but on time at 6am. Walked around busy city near hotel, tasty McDonalds lunch and then great dinner with Mary and Dick Loyer at a super fish restaurant on the water of The Golden Horn looking up at old Istanbul as the sun set and lights went on.
Tuesday the UM group assembled with Odessey tour director Ali Dolgan. Spent morning walking through Grand Bazaar with 4000 shops and Spice Market with many native Turkey food related small shops. Lunch was baked potato stuffed with everything imaginable. Afternoon highlight was a boat ride on the Bosphorus Strait.- the narrow waterway dividing Europe and Asia and cutting Istanbul Into two parts. Tuesday nights UM tour welcoming dinner introduced us to many Turkish foods in a small family restaurant.
Wednesday was an intense introduction to Turkish history, religion, etc. AM spent in the Palace of Ibrahim Pasha housing Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art dating back the 8th century. In the PM we visited both the Hagia Sophia once the world's greatest cathedral built in 537CE which was turned into a mosque in the 15th century, and the immense Blue Mosque where we took off our shoes and walked among many sitting on the floor admiring a huge overhead dome with 260 blue stained glass windows. The highlight of our lunch was a sudden wind storm of over 60 mph that ripped flags, blew anything loose off roofs, burned up a boat on The Bosphorus, and killed several in outlying areas. Shades of our Tokyo mini-typhon. After our last of three nights in the Central Palace Hotel we left very early Thursday.
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