The Blue Mosque — Istanbul, Turkey
Woke up at 7 to pack away rest of our gear and also to have a final look at the balloons before a quick breakfast. Picked up on time at 8 for the 65 minute trip to Kayseri airport where we again bumped into Penny from Daisy's school who I forgot to mention we had bumped into while getting off the tour bus at Goreme Open Air museum yesterday. When we got to Istanbul we discovered we were staying at the same hotel, Sebnem in Sultanahmet!
Short 1hour flight to Istanbul and our transfer was waiting for us. The mini-bus had just one other couple from England but we hit heavy traffic and Sahib Gokcen domestic airport is quite a distance from the city so it took 2 hours. So it was about 2pm by the time we settled into the Sebnem Hotel. We were quite hungry by now so had lunch at one of the numerous restaurants near our hotel. Then a quick walk and look through a small bazaar.
Then decided visit the Blue Mosque which is about 5 minutes away but got there at 4pm just as they closed for tourists because it was prayer time. So went to look at the Egyptian Tutmosis III obelisk which was erected in the square next to the mosque. Then noticed the Museum of Islamic Art was open so we decided to go in since we had an hour to spare. We found it quite interesting, they had all forms of art, carvings, jewellery, book bindings of the Koran, etc.
Finished at 5:15 and went back across the park to the Blue Mosque. Being the first large mosque we've entered we found it quite amazing and beautiful. We had to take off our shoes and carry them with us in a plastic bag but you must wear socks or feet coverings which they give you if you don't have socks. Also I noticed some girls were give an extra blue wrap to wear if their skirt was too short or a bit see-through. It is called the blue mosque because the interior is covered in blue tiles and decoration.
We were going to have a short rest before dinner but the receptionist told us that Penny and her sister Julie had just left for dinner so we decided to try and find them and eventually did, so joined them for dinner although both of them weren't feeling the best so Penny wasn't eating. Had a good long chat with them before they decided they needed an early night. I ended up deciding to change my Singapore hotel and stayed up until 1am organising it.
