Istanbul

Rather than taking the 18 hour train from Bucharest to Istanbul, we decided to cheat a little bit (and only pay 10 euros more) and fly. A 55 minute flight later, we landed in Istanbul for the last leg of our European trip. It was surprisingly easy to get from Istanbul airport to where we were staying as the public transport is cheap and easy to navigate.

We stayed in Beyoglu, just north of the river which turned out to be a good option as we were a short walk away (albeit up a very very steep hill) from Istiklal Caddesi - the main shopping, restaurant and bar strip. We were also a short walk away (downhill) from the Tophane nargileh cafes. The hostel itself however was not such a good option - unless unresponsive staff, a dirty bathroom (with a shower blocked by other people's hair - which we had to pull out ourselves), sheets whıch don't fit the bed and an obese ugly old laundry lady sneaking up to a room across the hall from ours with her boyfriend to have loud, 1am sex ıs your idea of a good option!

That aside, there was loads to see and do which kept us from spending too much time in the hostel. We spent the first few days orientating ourselves with the city. While this meant a fair bit of walking, it gave us a good opportunity to get a feel for Istanbul, away from the main sites. We visited the small and less renowned Rustem Pasa Mosque, a fine example of Ottoman architecture and style with a stunning tiled interior, and did a loop through the area west of the Bazaar district - walking past the Suleymaniye Mosque (which was unfortunately closed for renovation) and the Aqueduct of Valens, a Byzantine emperor. This loop also took us to the Horhor antique market - we spent a good hour picking out items for our future house. We'll just have to make another trip back with some money in our pockets to buy it all! 

Other than walking past the Cemberlitas column - boring to me but impressive for Simon (it was erected by Constantine upon the founding of Constantinople but is really just a large brown column) - we didn't do too much else in the first few days - except eating baklava, drinking tea and Turkish coffee and eating kebaps.

The first main site we visited was the Basilica Cistern - built in the 6th century, it was the water cistern for the Great Palace and was thought to have been destroyed along with the rest of the palace until it was rediscovered in the 16th century by an archaeologist who saw local residents catching large fish through holes in the pavement. Whılst the well done lighting certainly added to the experience, the cistern was nonetheless very impressive and definitely worth the visit.

The following day we visited the Haghia Sophia. Thought by some as being a candidate for the one of the new seven wonders of the world, whilst it is an impressive building - particularly taking into account that it is 1500 years old, we thought that it was somewhat overrated. The interior is quite run down and it doesn't have the carving or stonework which would normally be associated with large Roman era buildings. That said, it is undergoing significant renovation to coincide with Istanbul being the European city of culture for 2010 and hopefully some of it's former glory wıll be restored.

The Blue Mosque however had the opposite impact on us with both the exterior and interior being extremely impressive. Interestingly however, our favourite of the mosques that we visited was probably the Little Aya Sofya (Aya Sofya being the Turkish translation of Haghia Sophia). Another Byzantine era church which has subsequently been converted to a mosque, the charm of the Little Aya Sofya was partly that it is far more understated than the larger mosques with subtler decoration but more so that it feels more peaceful and more like a place of prayer.

After our visit to the Little Aya Sofya it was so warm that we decided to go and sit down by the seaside for a while and bask in the sun (whilst checking the London weather report on BBC weather and smiling). We then retreated to Yeni Marmara, a nargileh cafe for cinnamon and rosehip tea and a water pipe whilst watching the sun set. It certainly reinforced how far away from the stresses of work we are at the moment!

The final of the major sights which we visited (and the last İ am going to mention here as I have had enough of typing for one morning) was Topkapi Palace. Unfortunately, the day we visited the palace the weather decided to get exceptionally cold - probably karma for how smug we have been about the weather to date - and as such we couldn't really enjoy the lovely manicured gardens and views over the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn. Of particular note however, and impressive even despite the cold, was the Harem - an absolutely spectacular series of rooms within the palace which unfortunately our photos could not do justice. It was very beautiful however and very ornate.

I lied above, one last sight - very cool for an ancient history geek like me (Simon writing now) - was the Alexander Sarcophagus at the Museum of Archaeology.

Anyway, that will do for now. Suffice to say that Istanbul was awesome. We are off to Shanghai this evening and looking forward to getting to NZ for the Kiwi summer soon.