Istanbul - October 30th

As we didn’t make the Topkapi Place yesterday our resolution is to get up early and go there first today.  However as I forgot about the clocks changing (even here in Turkey there is daylight savings time) we actually woke an hour early.  But this advantage is lost as we spend far too long trying to book our Mumbai hotel, and so when we get to the palace the line is even longer than the previous day.  Still it moves fast and we get in fairly quickly, but then we find that inside are a series of even more queues.

Some of these queues are worth it, some are not.  We see a number of religious relics, including the footprint of Mohammed, the sword of David, the staff of Moses, and our second hand of John the Baptist, which unfortunately brings the rest of these artefacts into question.  Some parts of the palace are more spectacular than others, mostly the inner sanctums of the Sultans, including the Harem, for which we pay extra.  The Sultans knew how to live - as their portraits and photos show they certainly ate well.  They also gave themselves a great view for their windows as the whole city and waterways spread out before them.  We spend 4 hours in the palace, and we still don’t see everything.  The queue for the Treasury looks too long, and too slow, so I opt out of seeing the various treasures in there (Dorota had seen them before on her previous visit).

After this we have lunch, this time quite good Kofte in a famous Kofte restaurant, before we try the Grand Bazaar again.  However being a Sunday it is closed.  Dorota is suspicious that I arranged a trip for the only weekend it is closed, but actually I am genuinely disappointed it is closed.  However the Spice Bazaar (which has more than just spice) is open, so we get one Bazaar in.

In the afternoon we get the local ferry across to the Asian side of the city.  However there isn’t much to see there except mosques, so then we come back to our own side of the Bosphorous (technically our first voyage from Sultanahmet crossed the Mamara Sea).  Once back on our side Dorota takes in a Hamam, Turkish Bath, while I pamper myself with a few pints and some blogging.