Farewell Istanbul…

I can see the Bospherous sea from my bed and on our last morning in Istanbul we have a sunny day as a farewell gift (each morning has started cloudy, but cleared).  Plus it is the first morning I have woken and it is light (6am).

Last night was beautiful.
We went and hung out in Sultanahmet Square which is between the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque and always pumping with people, food stalls, hawkers, and a gorgeous fountain in the middle.  This is just minutes from where we are staying and is the centre of our activities and adventures…

The terracota hues of the Hagia Sofia beautiful in the evening sun.

The ever present Blue Mosque, hard to resist photgraphing it…

See what I mean?
It always looks as though it has been painted on the sky, like a backdrop.

The fountain, which is very cool to watch and cooling to sit by with Hagia Sofia behind.

Ok Moving on…

Yesterday we rode the tramway to the edge of  what I guess was the old city as there is the ruin of a huge wall. Pretty impressive.

We wandered to see Istanbul’s largest Mosque which took us through the university grounds and past many much cheaper stalls (squeezed as you watch orange juice only 1 TL , that is about 80 cents nz), Ollie bought a knive – he bought two yesterday!  Bags of ripe apricots and cherries just a couple of lira each…and quite  a relief after all the Turkish delight we have been eating.

Being Friday all the mosques are closed to visitors, but packed with Muslims as this is the big day, the Sabbath equivalent.  Still the courtyard was mighty impressive.

It is not too hard to leave knowing we will return at the end of the month for a night.  But for now we are off to explore all things Turkish. Starting with a swim in the Mediterrean….