Europe – 2015 – Day 4

Sunday in Istanbul – we decided to sleep in so we met Jeff and Vera at 11:30am in the lobby and went to a Synagogue with them.  When we arrived at the Synagogue, it was closed for a private party.  Interesting, the entire block was blocked off for most traffic and there were armed security people at three different stations as we approached the Synagogue.  At the Synagogue, there were another 4 security people there.  They told us that it was a private wedding and we could not go inside so we left and will go back tomorrow after we board the ship as the ship doesn’t leave until11:00pm.

After that we headed to the oldest Turkish bath house called the Ayasofya Hurrem Sultan Hamam, dating back to the 1500’s for a Turkish bath, massage and when we got there, we found out that they had no room for us.  So, we made a reservation for the day we get back – should be fun.

We walked back a couple of block to a small, very long street almost totally filled with restaurants and found one that had great food.  Again, we ate all kinds of food for lunch, including octopus!

After that, we took a cab ride to the biggest palace and it was called Dolmabance.  It had been used by Sultans (the rulers of Turkey for many years and was also used by a couple of the Presidents when they stopped being governed by a Sultan.  It was amazing – everywhere you looked it was gold, gold and more gold.

Then we split up with Vera and Jeff.  They went back to nap and we took a cab to see the largest Mosque in Istanbul.  After almost being ripped off by the cab driver you tried to short change us, we had to walk up this huge hill to get to the Mosque and we found out that it was closed.  

We found a cab down and had it take us to the big shopping street that we had been to a couple of days ago but it started raining so we took a cab back to the hotel, and had an hour before meeting Jeff and Vera at 8:30pm to go to dinner.

Dinner in an area called the fish market; however, we never did see the fish market but there certainly were a lot of little small restaurants.  We picked out one we thought we would like and did we have great service and great food, including octopus, anchovies, 4 other appetizers, then sea bass and lamb meat balls.  It was fun once again sharing our food with Jeff and Vera.

Then we took a cab back to the hotel and once again sat in the lounge until it closed at midnight.

It was a memorable day.  Tomorrow we are picked up at the hotel and taken to the ship at 11:00am so we will probably sleep in for a little and then get ready to go.  It is going to be a fun cruise.

Night from Istanbul

The Synagogue

 

Lunch at the Babyonia on the corner

A great lunch

 

Jeff and Vera at lunch with us

 

The front door of the palace - it has 68 bathrooms, 254 rooms and is huge

 

Ariel view of the biggest Mosque in Instanbul

 

Lamb on a spit - it was good

The start of our evening meal

At diner

Sea Bass