All About Mee(shell): Turkey

After seeing the Blue Mosque we went across the street to see Hagia Sophia. The Blue Mosque was free whereas the Hagia Sophia cost 20 lira to get in (roughly $12).

The Hagia Sophia was built as a Cathedral in 437 (1,437 years ago), and was later converted to a mosque and then to a museum. It is very famous architecturally (or so the boyfriend says) but it was absolutely spectacular inside. And massive! The pictures don't do it justice.

After the Hagia Sophia we had dinner at this place right around the corner from our hotel

Then we walked around the Hippodrome, which is a rectangular area where they used to horse and chariot racing in the Constantinople era.

The next day we went to the Basilica Cistern, which is where they caught and stored rainwater which the city used for their water supply. The cistern was built by Constantinople in the year 532. It was very dark and dreary down there, with beautiful columns supporting the structure.

We got our picture taken where we dressed up like a Sultan and a Princess

After the Cistern we went to the Grand Bazaar which is a very old covered shopping mall. It was so crazy inside - vendors trying to get you to come to their stand, tiny little alley-way type streets inside there making it impossible to navigate your way around, and any type of souvenir you could possibly think of.

After the Bazaar (I bought a lot of stuff)

Then we wandered over to the Spice Bazaar which was just like the Grand Bazaar but all the stands were selling food, spices, or food related items.

I was pretty Bazaar-ed out by the time we got to the Spice Bazaar so we didn't buy too much stuff there. After the Bazaars, we went for a walk by the bridge, which was busy with fisherman trying to catch fish.