Our final day in Istanbul! 🙁
We hopped a taxi to Suleymaniye Mosque for our first stop this morning for the low low price of 12 TL. Although the largest mosque in the city, it was very bright and simple compared to the Blue Mosque but the exterior is certainly vast.
We still spent quite a lot of time inside…watching the men prepare for the Friday prayers by vacuuming and dusting the prayer area. The hum of the vacuum cleaner is a sound I’ll always associate with a mosque now.
One thing of note for visitors is that at the entrance of the mosque (and at the Blue Mosque too) there were cloaks and head scarves for anyone requiring wardrobe fixes. Although we didn’t need them, we did appreciate the thought and felt it offered a warmer welcome.
One fascinating part of the mosque complex is the graveyard. The tomb stones are quite different (to us) and it was very peaceful.
We reveled in the peace since our next stop was the famous Grand Bazaar! In the end though it was actually very civilized! There may have been a little disappointment with that after all the build up of how crazy it is in there! Although in the end, we much preferred it like that!
We covered many many streets/aisles but Virginia was only one who came away with her pocketbook a little lighter (with a purchase at a store with fixed prices! We still didn’t fancy entering the bargaining fray in case that was where the civility ended!! Heehee)
We left the Grand Bazaar just as the midday call prayer rang out and continued our meandering towards the Egyptian Bazaar – or Spice Market. The prayers at midday on a Friday are the biggest and this was evident as people spilled out onto the streets with carpets to line the walks outside the mosques. In fact on one street we had to make a detour since there was no way through the crowds on the street. Or at least none obvious enough for us to risk interrupting the proceedings.
About one block away from the Spice Market we found a spot for a kebab style lunch to make sure we would be able to resist the allure of the spices! The displays were very vibrant and fragrant of course! There seemed to be more people than in the Grand Bazaar but that might be just a product of available space!
As we were at the boat docks of Eminönü, we decided to check out the departure times for a ride up the Bosphorous. There was one leaving within half an hour so we paid up our 12 TL each and scored seats on the edge. It was just a “short” cruise of 1.5 hours. As we waited to depart, we were entertained by the boats serving fish sandwiches. Some of them were rocking quite drastically – we have no idea how they stayed on their feet never mind whip up tasty sandwiches!
Finally we were off! It was pretty breezy! We enjoyed the ride but were glad we were only going for 1.5 hours since everything kind of started looking the same after a while – except for some obvious landmarks like the European and Asian fortresses…and random guys swimming through the currents. It is one massive city!!!
August 30 is Victory Day in Turkey to commemorate the final battle in the Turkish War of Independence in 1922. As such, the city was full of giant Turkish flags and I do like my flags….(it’s a Canadian thing!)
We meandered slowly home making frequent stops on the watch stores street, the camera stores street, and mostly the big shop selling baklava and other Turkish delights – including Turkisk Delight! Javi couldn’t resist and bought a sampler baklava box which we enjoyed at frequent intervals! The final sampling came beside the Blue Mosque. We were always drawn to this spot – definitely our favourite sight to behold!
And just like that, it was time to head back to the hotel and start the packing process. We also made use of the laptop in reception to download and exchange photos. For dinner we went across the street to a little fish restaurant that had a very local feel to it (Ahirkapi Balikcisi). The waiter brought us to the cabinet to show us his recommendations and we thoroughly enjoyed our olives wrapped in sardines, grilled shrimp, and sea bream! 150 TL for the four of us (or 14 euros each!) and thoroughly delicious.
Good night Istanbul! What a trip! And now back to reality with a few thousand photographs to sort through! Can’t wait!