Arriving in Ataturk airport at 4:30pm on Friday night, nothing could prepare me for the chaos that is Istanbul’s international airport…….how there were no cars being smashed up is beyond me! Still stepping from wintery Adelaide
into 32 degrees Turkey was a bit of a shock to the system, and in true Paula fashion, I immediately flushed a sweaty red and had all the locals asking if I was sunburnt……
Lesley only beat me into our hotel in Sultanahmet by ten minutes, and as we caught up, it was like only 10 minutes had gone by since we were sharing tents in Africa. Despite my 26 hours in transit, we headed out for dinner and drinks. Mind you, by 9pm I faded out and was asleep 2 minutes after my head was on the pillow!
Saturday was spent exploring the old parts of Istanbul, we visited the Topkapi Palace and gardens….home to Ottoman Sultans from 1478 to the 1800’s. We then headed up to the Grand Bazaar and got totally lost and disoriented in their cavernous halls! This sent us streaming out with massive crowds back towards the Golden Horn Narrows and a way out of our way!
It was mid afternoon and the heat of the day was becoming really oppressive to these two blonde fair Caucasians. We had had every intent to see the Hagia Sophia, but opted for the cool of our room for a few hours in the shade and cool. As the sun set, we ventured out again and went through a few Bazaars and then hunted out a few beers and dinner.
It sounds like we had a lax day, but my watch tells me that we covered about 28km’s. Both of us fell into bed like achy, creaky old ladies last night.
Sunday morning we were up and at them early, determined to beat the sun and the crowds. We visited the Hagia Sophia, which started off life as a Greek Orthodox Basilica and was later converted into an Ottoman Imperial Mosque. Built in 537AD, it has one of the first domed roofs.
We strolled across the road to the Basilica Cistern, a massive underground cistern, built by a Byzantine Emperor in 565AD. The Cistern was in use until the Ottomans, in the 1400’s when it was forgotten until the 1950’s. It’s part of a series of mysterious and largely inaccessible catacombs in Istanbul. Thousands of slaves died building the cisterns.
Later on in the morning, we also headed through the Blue Mosque, which was our first experience with formal headscarves….. The Blue Mosque is still an active mosque and closes during call to prayer.
This evening we are flying out to Shiraz, Iran, landing in Iran at 2:30am and due to join our trip tomorrow am at 10….ouch. Internet coverage/access will be haphazard in Iran, so there may be 10 days with out updates. Be patient, they will come!
Love and sweaty hugs
Paula & Les
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