İstanbul

We awoke at 5:20am to the call to prayers from the mosque down the street. It was strangely beautiful and exotic with its melodic tones and the pre-dawn light seeping through the drapes. We drifted back to sleep and awoke a few hours later to have coffee and biscuits before heading out.

We strolled along the Bosphorus to the Fortress of Europe – a 13th century castle built before the siege of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmet II. The walls and towers are intact with great views of the waterway below and the Asian side of Istanbul across the way. We continued our walk then took a taxi into the old part of town - the Sultanahmet area.

Once in the innter city, we gazed upon the enormous dome and towering minarets of the Blue Mosque and we’re astonished by the 1400 year old Aya Sophia (no, that’s not a typo – its original foundation was build in the 4th century!).

It was originally build as a church by the Byzantines, then was converted to a mosque by the Ottomans. We avoided invites to various rug shops (one guy even guaranteed his carpets could fly!) and grabbed a bite at a little restaurant on a nearby alley. Doner and lamb shish kabobs – excellent!

Next, we went underground to the Basilica Cistern – a vaulted water reservoir build in 532 A.D. After we got tired of being dripped on, we headed above ground to a café for some mint tea, Turkish coffee and a puff on a nargile – a water pipe stuffed with strawberry flavored tobacco. Next we ducked into the Grand Bazaar for a peak just before closing and trammed and cabbed it back to our guest house.