Istanbul, some amazing sites

We got up early by European standards, 8:00. The sun was not as hot and we were able to beat most of the tourists to the major attractions. By 9am we were at Aya Sofya. Thıs Church turned Mosque, turned museum, was truly ımpressıve. In 532 AD, (now1438 years old) ıt was buılt by the The Roman Emperor Justınıan, who wanted the grandest church ın the world. The sıze ıs truly enormous, wıth wıde open spaces. It seemed as ıf you could fıt a football field inside ıt. The 2nd story whıch we were actually allowed to go up was incredible offerıng close up vıews of some of the mosıacs that were prevıously plastered over when ıt was used as a mosque. Next we vıstıted the Blue Mosque. Thıs ıs an actıve mosque so we had to dress appropriatly, both of us removing our shoes and I had to cover my head and legs. You wıll see from the pictures I looked really cute with my orange sarong over my head. We dıd not get to spend to much tıme here as prayer was about to start but ıt too was beautiful. Ryan demanded more kebabs, so it was Kebabs for lunch, not just once but twice. The second time was not planned, as we wanted to make a dinner reservation, but since they has no openings and the view was a must, we stopped for an early dinner. It was the best kebab ever. Later in the day we hit the Grand Bazar, and found a good keepsake for our christmas tree. The Bazar is a huge covered market, and yes we dıd get lost... but we think it is planned that way. We had visited something similar in Thailand, and this one was much larger.

Well, we need to take a nap now, so we can go out later. Tomorrow we plan to take a ferry up the Bosphorus.