{"id":160,"date":"2007-10-12T23:59:32","date_gmt":"2007-10-12T13:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/?p=160"},"modified":"2007-10-12T23:59:32","modified_gmt":"2007-10-12T13:59:32","slug":"istanbul-city-sightseeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/turkey\/istanbul-turkey\/istanbul-city-sightseeing","title":{"rendered":"Istanbul City Sightseeing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"float: right\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\r\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-1009507070974015\";\r\ngoogle_alternate_ad_url = \"http:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/google_adsense_script.html\";\r\ngoogle_ad_width = 300;\r\ngoogle_ad_height = 250;\r\ngoogle_ad_format = \"300x250_as\";\r\ngoogle_ad_type = \"text_image\";\r\n\/\/2007-06-30: TSBlog 300x250\r\ngoogle_ad_channel = \"2928184950\";\r\ngoogle_color_border = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_bg = \"FFFFFF\";\r\ngoogle_color_link = \"FF6600\";\r\ngoogle_color_text = \"000000\";\r\ngoogle_color_url = \"339933\";\r\n\/\/-->\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\r\n  src=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\r\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>DAY 3 &#8211; Our\u00a0morning visit was to the Hagia Sophia, noted to be the most magnificent of the Byzantine churches.\u00a0 Had a great time here checking out\u00a0the\u00a0mosaics depicting various religious scenes.\u00a0 The original mosaics had been destroyed during the Iconclastic period, however fortunately new mosaics had been installed in the 9th century.<\/p>\n<p>After Hagia Sophia, we were deposited near the Pudding Shop and many chose to have an early lunch before their Bosphorus cruise.\u00a0 We did a very nice sunset\u00a0cruise last year and so we opted to do our own thing this time.\u00a0 Nevertheless, we joined our fellow travellers for\u00a0a nice lunch at the Pudding Shop before setting off on our adventure.\u00a0 Not knowing how big or small each serving was, I got a bit carried away and ordered too much food.<\/p>\n<p>One of the best ways to see a place is on foot, as you can see, smell and touch things as you&#8217;re exploring.\u00a0 Our first stop was the Basilica Cistern, the huge underground reservoir that once provided Constantinople&#8217;s water supply.\u00a0 Having\u00a0missed seeing this place during our past visits, we were really pleased to have made it this time.\u00a0 It&#8217;s an amazing place to visit &#8211; will do a more detailed blog when Tony uploads the photographs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>From the Cistern exit, it&#8217;s an easy stroll through a smart pedestrian precinct to the Grand Bazaar.\u00a0 Having a bit more time today, we covered more of the side lanes to discover many funky new cafes.\u00a0 I promised Tony&#8217;s mum that I would get her a kaftan, so we had to look for that.\u00a0 I found her a nice blue one which she was thrilled to receive.\u00a0 The main thoroughfare had all the gold and jewelry\u00a0shops, but this time around, I resisted the temptation.\u00a0 With the astronomical gold price, it wouldn&#8217;t be hard to cause serious damage to my bank account.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A stroll downhill from the Grand Bazaar through the chaotic old town and we were at the Egyptian Spice Market on the waterfront.\u00a0 I love markets of all kinds, as they&#8217;re always so colorful and there&#8217;s so much to feast your eyes on.\u00a0 Certainly in the Spice Market, there were loads of foodstuff, including dates, Turkish delights, caviar, etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Next, we were at the two level Galata Bridge.\u00a0 On the lower level,\u00a0there were\u00a0newly done up bars and restaurants offering <em>fresh<\/em> seafood.\u00a0\u00a0 On the upper level the favorite activity was fishing and we saw heaps of fishing lines cast to water.\u00a0 Be careful when leaning out to photograph the anglers from below as flying hooks and weights can get a little close at times.\u00a0\u00a0 Occasionally, a bucket comes hurling down as someone&#8217;s trying to get fresh supply of water to\u00a0store their catch in.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of the afternoon,\u00a0we were quite exhausted and at one stage Tony and I looked at each other and simultaneously quipped\u00a0&#8220;<em>I can&#8217;t feel my legs<\/em>&#8220;.\u00a0 That was a signal for us to hop on the light rail and head back to the hotel.\u00a0 With a\u00a0little direction from the guard at rail stop, who didn&#8217;t speak English,\u00a0we sort of learnt that we would be able to get back to Taksim Square by\u00a0rail.\u00a0 When we got off to look for our next connection, we discovered a spanking new Swiss underground funicular that ferries passengers from Taksim Square down to the waterfront, and vice versa.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It was a successful day&#8217;s outing but we were absolutely exhausted when we got back to our room.\u00a0 It is said that if you wish to feel that you&#8217;ve done more than merely scratched the surface of Istanbul, you&#8217;ll need a full fortnight, however few have the luxury of such a lengthy visit.\u00a0 We did the best we could today&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Helen\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAY 3 &#8211; Our\u00a0morning visit was to the Hagia Sophia, noted to be the most magnificent of the Byzantine churches.\u00a0 Had a great time here checking out\u00a0the\u00a0mosaics depicting various religious scenes.\u00a0 The original mosaics had been destroyed during the Iconclastic period, however fortunately new mosaics had been installed in the 9th century. After Hagia Sophia, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-istanbul-turkey"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Istanbul City Sightseeing - Travel Signposts Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/turkey\/istanbul-turkey\/istanbul-city-sightseeing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Helen Page\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/turkey\/istanbul-turkey\/istanbul-city-sightseeing\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.travelsignposts.com\/wordpress\/turkey\/istanbul-turkey\/istanbul-city-sightseeing\",\"name\":\"Istanbul City Sightseeing - 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