After checking in at the hotel and a quick catnap, we headed out to get the lay of the city. The hotel is right in the middle of many popular sites.
As we walked into the main square near the mosques we realized that we are one of only a few tourists here (due to travel restrictions). We were asked by several locals “where are you from”, which we quickly learned is the intro to “come visit my shop” :-). We learned this through one of the locals that took us to his carpet shop. He was very kind and told us facts about the attractions as we walked there, then served us tea as his family showed us their carpets.
After we “got loose” from there we explored on our own finally - here are a few pics
Hagia Sophia
Cute mosaic wall made from dishes
Colorful shops/houses
The Blue Mosque
We walked through Gülhane Parkı, a 160 acre space converted from the nearby palace grounds into a public park. Thru the park we ended up at the waterfront looking out over the Bosporus River which separates Istanbul on the European and Asian continents. We walked along the water then worked our way back into the main city to look for food.
We found this back alley cafe and stopped for a Turkish coffee, made over open coals in a little stand.
These two coffees plus water and chocolates cost around $2.50
Then after a little more walking we stopped for dinner at a busy little place by the metro stop. We had a meal of a pepper-based paste (like hummus) with bread and a plate of lamb (doner) and chicken with rice/barley and a couple drinks - all for ~$11!
Our last stop was for a dessert and some tea (which the locals drink very often). This was called Kadayif - it’s an oven baked shredded pastry with pistacio filling in thick syrup...delicious.
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