[Image]We headed out with the intention of seeing the Blue Mosque, the Aya Sofya, and to buy a SIM card for the cell phone so we can cheaply and easily call ahead to arrange for accomodation. We join the shuffling throng of tourists to enter the Blue Mosque, an active Muslim place of worship. Tourists don shoulder-wraps and sarongs to cover bare-shoulders and legs, and everyone removes their shoes. Inside the vaulted domes are staggeringly huge inverted bowls, streaked with wires suspending rails of dim lighting. The carpet is plush beneath our feet, and we can see (but not enter) the area of prayer.
[Image]The Aya Sofya was once a Christian church, converted to a mosque and is now a museum. Its huge walls hide two levels inside, with ceilings that seemed to be 30 meters above us; despite all the tourists it is impossible to feel cramped here. The walls are decorated with intricate Christian mosaics. In some places faint Christian themes are overwritten with Muslim art, but for the most part remain unchanged. The dome reaches so high it is impossible to describe, a height is just a number but to see it from within is just breathtaking.
[Image]We make another attempt at the grand bazaar, now armed with Turkish Liras but we cannot find the shops we had noted the night before. We walk for hours up and down the myriad covered and uncovered streets and alleyways, and finally (after lunch there) we find a kiosk that will sell us a Turkcell SIM card. The seller offers an 'openbox' deal that does not require activation, and doesn't require us to register our passport number. I go for this and it works!
We crash early that evening, exhausted and still not over our jetlag.
"Day 3 - Istanbul"
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