Istanbul - Day 2

My sister and mom in the famous Grand Bazaar. It may not look like what you'd expect from the bazaar though. This is one of the many hidden and secluded areas, an open-air courtyard where travelers used to stay and you can catch a break from the bustle of inside. That is, if you can find this courtyard in the first place. There's countless little areas in the Grand Bazaar you can really only stumble upon. It really is a maze.

Today we properly explored the old neighborhood, starting with the famous Topkapi palace. The highlight was of course visiting the old Harem, with its beautiful interior design and decorations. Very impressive. The views over the Bosphorus were quite nice as well, and the treasury was just ridiculous: swords, ornaments, chandeliers, ancient royal outfits, thrones and the 86-carat Spoonmaker's Diamond.

That took half the day already, so we stopped for lunch at a corner restaurant in a little street. Its worth mentioning how many animals there are in the streets here in Istanbul! I swear there are more cats than humans. You see cats absolutely everywhere, and more often than not they're in families with plenty of kittens. They just hang around on every street, in every house and mosque. And everyone is kind to animals here, so it doesn't feel like they've got it bad either. Additionally, most of the streets are pedestrian only, particularly in the old neighborhood. Not because that's the rule or anything, just because the streets are too steep, small or otherwise impossible for vehicles to navigate! The trams, boats and buses are great to get around otherwise.

After lunch, we headed to the famous Basilica Cistern. This place is incredible, a 6th century underground reservoir held up by ancient columns salvaged from Constantinople. There's two columns with giant blocks with Medusa's head on them. James Bond's been here too in one of the movies. Definitely worth a visit for being such a unique place, although all my photos came out terrible, its so dark!

Then we walked to the Grand Bazaar. In a rare show of negativity however, I will state that the Bazaar let me down a bit. Or at least, let's say I enjoyed it, but not for the reasons I was expecting. Simply because when I walked around there, I just got the impression that it used to be so much cooler, but tourism and all its consequences had to come along and change things.
Nevertheless, its incredibly interesting and cool in its own rights. The place is a city in itself. We caught a break at one point for a turkish tea (which is quite good) and then kept going.

Exhausted from the visiting, we walked back to the hotel through the little steep streets overlooking the Marmara, and found a local restaurant where we ate some more traditional post-Ramadan food. Here, kebab is actually an appetizing word. Good touristy day.

peace