First, Hagia Sofia. Once a church, then a mosque, now a museum.
The crosses are kind of, sort of covered up.
Some Viking carved on the rail, just like that annoying kid who sat behind you in study hall who couldn't stop carving on the back of your chair.
My favorite creepy angel in the corner.
The circle where Popes were once coronated.
Across the street, The Basilica Cistern. It feels like a beautiful dungeon, still dripping.
Medusas in the Basilica Cistern.
One last shot near the exit.
The Blue Mosque.
Simit, bread rings with sesame seads, available on every street corner. We got ours with Nutella because, why not?
We had enough time to ferry back over to the Asian side. We had lunch at Kebapci Iskender, the inventors of the Iskender or Iskander kebab that you see on restaurant signs and menus all over Istanbul. This Iskender kebab is shaved meat served over sliced pita and then doused in tomato sauce. The dish is finished at the table as the server pours browned butter over the meat. So, you can imagine how delicious this was. Perfect with the yogurt and eggplant served on the side.
We also ordered a Turkish drink that was both sweet and tart, and I have no idea what it was called, but it tasted good.
Near the Kadikoy port, there is a large shopping district. We hopped around going from candy store to candy store, seeing the rainbow of colored candies and Turkish delights, hunting for a spot to relax for a few minutes. We ended up settling on Haci Bekir since they had some quiet tables in the back.
Ordered a brownie and two Turkish coffees.
That pretty much did it for the Asian side.
And more sweets, Turkish coffee, and tea when we got back to the European side. We ate at Hafiz Mustafa. Sugar overload.
Typical crazy Istanbul intersection. View from the second floor of Hafiz Mustafa.
After our snack, we went to see a Dervish show. No photos allowed, it was a spiritual performance of men...whirling. It's difficult to describe. It's almost trance-like to watch. Just spinning and spinning and spinning. There were live musicians playing beautiful music to accompany and that was my favorite part.
Exhausted, we ate near our hotel, and it was the worst meal of the trip. It wasn't even terrible, it just wasn't anything I want to post about.
After dinner, we had another rooftop drink over the Blue Mosque and listened to the last call to prayer for the night.
