Istanbul Day 2 - Haggia Sophia and such

This morning we were tired so we slept in late. So late, in fact, that we almost missed breakfast.

Today was also the first day we both had to break out the Pepto Bismol. I was hoping we wouldn't have to until this next week in Thailand, but no such luck.

On a side note, Joseph thinks Pepto tastes delicious. I think he is crazy.

After breakfast we headed out to the city, with our first stop being Haggia Sophia. We were both very excited to see it, and were not disappointed. It was one of the most amazing structures I have ever seen. I didn't want to leave. It was built in 500 AD and was a Christian church until the 1400s when the Turks conquered the city and converted it to a mosque. Now it is a museum and they have renovated it to show some of the old Christian art work while still maintaining the Muslim art work. It was amazing, and so big. I can't imagine how they built something that monumental so long ago. Definitely my favorite site so far in Turkey - Joseph agrees.

After finishing up at Hagia Sophia we walked to the water to take a cruise on the Bosphorus. On our way we stopped at the old Grand Post Office. We also walked through the Spice/Egyptian Market.

The river cruise was awesome. The weather was nice with a cool breeze, and there were a lot of old palaces that sit right on the water that they take you really close to. We also cruised by some old wall remnants from old Constantinople. I loved the boat ride.

After the boat ride we walked across the Galata Bridge to the Galata tower and then back into town. By this point we were both exhausted and couldn't decide on what to eat. We are both pretty sick of Turkish food. They eat a lot of meat here, and we just couldn't take it anymore. We couldn't bring ourselves to eat another Kebab something or rather. Right around this time we came to the main city square where hundreds of people had gathered to celebrate the end of fasting for the day (since it is Ramadan). It was cool to see all the people gathered with picnics waiting for the call from the Blue Mosque that it was okay to eat. We grabbed some Ramadan food: feta cheese tortilla wraps, some watermelon, and some waters. We sat down on a bench to join the celebrations. Then we walked home through Istanbul that was all lit up. It was the perfect way to end the night.