17 October

After waking again at 0500 I finally rose about 0630 and prepared for breakfast.
I ran into the Australians (Jo and Rick) again over the table and also had a quick chat with a few others (another Australian couple, from Blackwater, had no Vegemite but the wife didn’t take up the offer to have some as they were leaving today).
Then it was back to the room to finish preparing for going out, but while putting my pack from the bed to the floor, I found a camera bag stuffed with ten Olympus batteries (marked 51 to 60), a lens cap and a camera remote. I dropped those at the desk on my way out.
Now I have oriented myself, everything is only a short walk away. It was just a matter of following the tram line around to the Aya Sofya museum and, after leaving the hotel at 0830 I was there at 0835. I read up a little while I was waiting, marvelled at the number of cats (they make bad choices of who to snuggle up to) and ended up talking with a student from Taiwan who is finishing five months of touring the world and will be returning to his home soon to look for a job in the Economics field.
The gates opened at 0900 exactly (and I was in the front of the line by then, as I think everyone else wanted to follow) and I asked about the Museum pass – but it’s only available to Turkish citizens (so I can’t get a discount!). I paid my TYL20 and went in at 0900:30.
The place has an interesting history, which really can be summarised as a church, burned down, rebuilt, then changed to a mosque after the city was taken by the Turks and eventually was proclaimed a museum under Ataturk. It is big – as one guide said to her group, the Statue of Liberty could fit under the dome. When you consider that it was originally built in the fifth century, that’s a feat of engineering which has to be admired. It is being restored (and probably will be for the foreseeable future), as each user added their own and took something away. I suppose the difficulty is working out what to restore and how to display it. Even as it is, it took a long time (for me) to go through it. During the time, I met a couple from the hotel who just finished the same tour I am going on and they offered a suggestion or two re alternative tours in some places.
Once out I went over to the Blue Mosque. Two things hit me – one was the number of tourists around – there are at least three cruise ships in with something like a total of five thousand passengers and so there are tour buses and tourists here by the thousand. The second was the magnamity of the Blue Mosque. Despite having the wear and tear of many tourists going through, and supplying free plastic bags for tourists to carry their shoes in, all that is requested is a donation as you leave. I was more than pleased to give some money, but left with a very good impression of the religious people in Istanbul.
Then I wanted to visit the Cisterns. The information in my Lonely Planet guide was unreliable on two counts – it gave the price in Euros, but it’s only quoted in Turkish Lira; it gave different prices (they were the same, TYL10 each) and claimed one gave a free drink. At the first Cistern, because it was so close I walked too far and had to backtrack to enter it. Currently it is used as an entertainment establishment in the evening, so it’s hard to create the ambience of the cisterns with water in them. However, because it has a floor, I could walk right up to the columns and examine them fairly closely (I wanted to, because instead of solid columns, they have two vertical sections with a wheel in between, which allows horizontal movement without collapse). Then I went to the Basilica Cistern – this still has water in it and has mood lighting. If you look at the pictures for today, you will see some where I have used flash (to show what’s there) and also used a time exposure (to capture the mood lighting).
After that it was in to have some lunch (about 1230 by now) and I ran into the Taiwanese student again! It’s remarkable how a face can become familiar within a few minutes and is remembered. After lunch I walked to the ferry terminals. Along the way I met and helped direct two Americans to the Grand Bazaar (you can always tell American men in particular as they address a stranger as “Sir”). Again I was surprised at how little time it took to reach the waterfront (and then realise it was only two minutes walk from the hotel).
I wandered along looking for what was on offer. The first (and the one I took) was TYL20 for about ninety minutes return along the Bosphorus, up to the second bridge. I boarded at 1340, and the ferry was due to depart at 1400. While waiting, I struck up conversation with a British couple (husband an engineer who has lectured in Australia at RMIT among other places; wife originally from Alexandria in Egypt) who were off one of the cruise ships.
The cruise started off about 1415 and was very good value, giving a total of one hundred and five minutes before it returned and cruising close to the European shore on the way up and the Asian shore on the way back. The photos give a good overview of the buildings, the green areas, the bridges and the shipping along the way. I also had a conversation with a French lady from Paris but originally from Brittainy. Just before the ferry docked, I was asked by a Dutch gentleman to photograph the whole family with him in it, and ended up talking to him about opportunities for young people (his daughter in particular) to visit and spend time in Australia.
On the way back to the hotel I was amazed by the number of fishermen – didn’t see anything caught, but saw a lot of enthusiasm. I also took a photo for a Spanish couple who seemed surprised that a stranger would offer to take their photo so they could look back and see themselves together in a place, instead of one or the other. I also ran into a couple from the hotel (husband from Turkey, wife from America). Within five minutes, including stopping to get a drink and drinking it, I was back in my room and processing the photos. Once I had done that I was down into the lobby, uploading the photos, sending out the daily email and writing up my blog for the day.
Once my photos have all gone, I will go up and prepare for the evening, perhaps doing some washing. After that, it’s to sleep and thoughts of what I will do tomorrow.