2019 Eurasia Adventure - Istanbul Daughter #2 Tour

As mentioned previously, Daughter #2 aka The Venerable Pulisha or Venerable Pu for short, got cut short of one of her days to be regaled by her equally venerable parental units. We had cut the food tour short so we had a lovely couple of relaxing hours over a bottle of wine (after wandering quite a ways from the hotel downhill which evidently only leads one to the light fixture district - suppose we should call it the light fixture Han - then the electrical supplies Han and the industrial storage supplies Han - before we finally got to a restaurant where we could have a drink.

But Saturday was a new day and a new day calls for tradition...like the TRADITIONAL DEATH MARCH OF TOURISM!. 

I will say in this case, we didn't necessarily set out to do the 'Death March'. But it is little like telling a shark to not attack that thrashing bleeding thing in the water...it is sort of instinctual.

We started off by Honorable Pu stating she just wanted to see two things in Istanbul - Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar

The weather was really miserable

Cold and raining

Despite that the lines were long

There is so much I like about Turkey but organization and communication are not two fo them

Coming to the Church

I took this video to give you the sense of the whole place

(Click Here)

Unfortunately there is major restoration going on

That scaffolding really detracted from the whole feel of the place

For pictures from our 2015 visit go here

Since I had taken so many pictures last visit, I decided to experiment using the 17mm fixed lens just as an exercise in photography

(It is a lens that gives you a wider angle, little in the way of magnification and has much more detail capturing capability)

The Miracle of Hagia Sophia

Pu and I are standing right in the middle of the center dome area and I feel something hit the brim of my hat. We look down and see a coin, a one Euro Cent coin

Clearly God has spoken!

And sent me a message that great wealth is on the way

At least that is going to be how I am going to promote this on my new 

"Miracles of the Ancient Byzantines" site I plan to get up soon

(I will give you a discount as a first time subscriber)

Promotional picture of Wife and Daughter Pulisha taken to promote

de-I's Eurasian Outfitters 'Go Easy' Istanbul Tour

Actual picture posted by Daughter on the de-I Outfitters site with negative review of 'Death March'

I deleted the review

We stopped to have some tea, coffee and soda and to warm up

Then it was off to the Grand Bazaar

As I took all those pictures the day before, I just focused on guiding

I have to say I am starting to get a really good feel for the central part of Istanbul

Here is what it feels like to be going into the Bazaar

(Click here and here)

While at the Bazaar, the lust to buy scarves came upon me in full force

I had stated that I had bought all the scarves I needed in Azerbaijan and Georgia where I had gotten three nice scarves for a total of about $30

But I told Daughter #1 that if I saw something nice, I would pick up one for her in Istanbul

Sure enough we found a nice shop with a nice, not too pushy sales guy and before we knew it it was one for #1, three for me, one for Wife, three for #2 and Wife got an embroidered pillow covering...

...all for $86!

It was mid-afternoon and the weather had cleared up

We ate a quick lunch

We've been searching for a particular kind of doner kebab sandwich remembered from our last trip with total lack of success

Honorable Pu thought taking a Bosporus cruise would be a good idea

We quickly researched what dock they were at, hoped on the tram, went a few stops started to look for where the ticket office was when men in front of a boat were yelling and touting a tour boat ride

We decided "why not" gave them the money and the boat immediately pushed off

Scenes from the boat ride

Ginormous mosque with six (count them) six minarets built by the current President

Fortress and lighthouse

We got back to shore and it was still only around 4:30

I said we should go to see Taksim Square

According to Wikipedia it is the heart of modern Istanbul with a lively hotel and restaurant scene and many 19th century buildings

But first we had to get there

We were let off by the boat way far away from where we got on

To get back to the tram we had to go down an underpass that had so many people trying to go in both directions that it was wall to wall people...probably the scariest mass crowd situation I have ever been in

But we made it to the tram, to off the tram and made our way to a funicular that goes up the hill to Taksim (first being helped by a very kindly transit worker in my figuring out how to reload my Istanbulkart) and arrive at the Square

It is getting dark, the temperature is dropping and is getting cold

It is pretty much a big open square

What ever is 'happening' there clearly is a ways away

So we take a few pictures and find a bar where we can have a drink

Monument to Independence done in 1923

The Square and yet another new mosque being built by the current regime

After our drink we took the Metro one stop back to where our hotel was

Where the sun was setting

We were amazed at how much we had done in such a relatively short period of time