Day 15 - Day in Istanbul

After breakfast we headed off to Mass at the Church of St Peter and St Paul. Again, this was a Church that did not look like a Church from the outside. It was at the top of a very steep and narrow street, tucked away in a corner. I imagine the Church had been there a long time and that the surrounding buildings that towered over it came later. The Churches here don't have the grounds that ours do in Australia. Nor do they have the parish primary schools that we have either.

After Mass, we had about cruise down the Phosphorus Strait. A few of us were feeling a bit anxious about this given the fact that we were back on a small boat. Fortunately, even though we had taken sea-sickness tablets, we did not go out to sea so nobody really got sick at all. This was a good thing as we had some serious shopping ahead of us in the afternoon!

The Bosphorus Strait runs between two continents, Europe and Asia. We sailed past the Ottoman Palaces, Byzantine fortresses and the Beylerbeyi Palace.

After the boat cruise we then went to the 6th Century Basilica Cistern. A few of us were confused in the beginning because we thought it was another Basilca. We have seen so many of them already! I was wondering how anyone would name a Basilica after a cistern! When we got down there we understood. This was a water supply for the city and was named the Basilica Cistern because it looked like a Basilica. There were a large number of pillars which, I guess, likened it to Church architecture.

We then had lunch. Carolyn, my room mate, Alison and I got a chicken kebab for lunch and went and sat in a park. The park was lovely but the kebab didn't compare with ours in Australia!

After lunch we walked to Topkapi Palace. This was like a mini-city which the Sultan resided in. We saw some of the jewels of the Sultan. The highlight was seeing an 84 carat diamond! There was an interesting story to this one. A man found it in a heap of rubbish and then gave it to a peddler in exchange for three spoons. The peddler the took it to a jeweller to have it valued. Once the jeweller realised the value of it he offered to buy the "rock" at really reduced amount without disclosing its true value. A dispute broke out once the peddler found out that he had been duped. When hearing about the dispute, the Sultan then decided that he was going to have the diamond. Lucky Sultan! He first had the diamond put into a ring setting but this became to big and heavy to wear on his hand so he then had it reset into a brooch to pin onto his turban.

It was then time to shop ... We made our way to the Grand Bazaar! What an experience this was! I have never been so falsely flattered by so many merchants in all of my life. The Bazaar was not what I was expecting at all I thought it would actually be something like our Paddy's markets but it was far more up-market than that. There were over 4000 tiny shops all selling exotic Turkish items. You name it ... and you would find it! One of the funniest lines from a merchant I was on the receiving end of was "Hello pretty lady. Can I help you spend your money please?" Another one was "Ah, for a beautiful lady I have beautiful carpet. Come inside my shop please and I sell you a beautiful carpet." When I thanked the man and politely told him that I did not need a carpet he then invited me again to go into his shop so that he could sell me something else that was beautiful!

We had a great time at the Grand Bazaar and when we all got back on the bus there were lots of comparing of purchases and many laughs over the smooths lines we all received from the merchants. Fortunately, none of us took to heart being referred to as a beautiful woman ... It wouldn't surprise me if the men with us were also called beautiful!

We got back to the Hotel had dinner and eventually got into bed.