I would have to say I was pretty excited about today... Once again, I booked us a private tour with a company that was incidentally called Private Tours in Turkey. Kagan (pronounced Khan as in Genghis) was our guide.
The sail into Istanbul is spectacular, as you watch the Blue Mosque, Ayia Sofia, and Topkapi Palace pass by.... The Celebrity Equinox had already arrived, and we were followed by one of the Crystal cruise ships (I think).
Kagan was there dockside the minute we stepped off the ship, he quickly boarded us on our mini bus to try and beat the crowds. He took us straight to the blue mosque. According to Kagan the queue was really short by Istanbul standards... so within 10 minutes we had taken off our shoes, Arnold donned his skirt, and we were inside.....
Kagan took us to the side where he sat us on the floor and gave a great rundown on Islam, Turkey style.... A little more lenient than some of the Middle East countries we had already visited. This mosque was based on the design of Ayia Sophia, and it was given its name due to the Blue tiles within.
The problem was he didn't even realize till I showed him the photo... sign should be visible as you walk out LOL...
From there, he decided that our best plan of attack was to visit the Grand Bazaar early and then hit the other major sites in the afternoon ... this would hopefully be the opposite of all the other tours happening that day...
At the Grand Bazaar, we were given a brief orientation and a time to meet at a specific spot... all made simple enough that hopefully no one would get lost....
Kagan told us that yes, the traders can be sharks, but they bite nice.... and they did.... They would say “Come look in my shop” but never pushed you or harassed you.... Bargaining was once again the name of the game and by now has become a sport for us all..... They try to get you to buy, and they do it with a smile and make it easy to have a laugh with them.... I would have to say our worst experience to date are those hawkers at the Pyramids.
After a couple of purchases and a quick lunch we were back on the touring trail again...
Kagan said he will not tell us too many facts and figures, but will tell us lots of stories of the places that we will visit. He said if we see an old building and he doesn’t say anything about it, it is because they are only 200 years old... he will only talk about buildings over 500 years old.... How old is our oldest building in Sydney!!
This was an honour for a family, and when the girls left the Harem, they left with some accumulated wealth of their own. The girls would not be presented to the Sultan until they reached the age of 18 when they became Concubines. They are given 7 years to impress the Sultan and hope that one day they will become one of his favorites. This allowed them to stay after the 7-year time period otherwise, they would have to leave the Harem....
Whilst here we also visited the Treasury, here we saw jewels that were left behind after the last Sultan was deposed...
It was a quick 20-minute walk to Ayia Sophia.... This started off as a church, then turned into a mosque and now stands as museum.
Once again, we had a guide take us into a site, make us stand to one side, then have us walk around a corner to be faced with the magnificence of this building.... It was another one of my wow moments and I can say I teared up in disbelief that I was finally standing in this place....
One other OMG moment was as we were walking out and Garry ran it to an old family friend, Manuel from Sydney, walking the other way....
Just when you thought nothing else could wow you, we walked a little further up the street and we visited the underground Basilica Cistern. Built at the same time as Ayia Sophia....This served as an underground sewerage system.
This must be the first evidence of recycling..... as you look at all the columns within this system, you note that they are all different, so they must have been leftovers from other sites.
If that is not enough, you find some columns are placed on top of other big rocks to make them tall enough to reach the ceiling.... The most amazing evidence of this are two columns that are propped up by 2 discarded sculptures of Medusa.... From the pictures you can see that they are not there as decoration but for necessity.
As we had been good tour followers all day, we were treated with another hour spent at the spice market. The colours and displays of spices and dried fruits are amazing and you can’t help but buy something to take back.... Not just limited to spice, there were lots of stalls that gave us the opportunity for last-minute shopping.
This was another wonderful day.... made so much better with the decision to use a private guide during our visit... Having someone whisk you in and out of these sites really made our time in Istanbul so much more enjoyable.......
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