Out of laziness we had to extend our stay in Istanbul one extra night to make final plans for renting our car and deciding where to go. With that extra day we finally visited the Blue Mosque and took the ferry over to the Asian side of Turkey. There isn’t a whole lot of story telling to go along with that besides to say that they are both pretty awesome and well worth the visit.
The Blue Mosque is stunning, both inside and out. To think that it was built from 1609 to 1616, obviously all by hand, and is still standing and in excellent shape is even more stunning.
The dogs agree
We then headed across the Gelata bridge again looking for some of that amazing fish I had found previously. While my chef with the push cart was taking a smoke break, we did find a quiet little place with an upstairs and some not quite as good fish…oh well. While waiting for food Ustadza spent some time studying the converted oil lamps that were in the restaurant.
The restaurant owner was also quite pleased to have some genuine tourists wander into his hidden little back alley digs.
Once our bellies were full, we hopped a ferry over to the Asian side to see what it’s all about and get some dusk pictures of Maiden’s Tower.
The lighting was spectacular, as was the scenery
Maiden’s Tower, with ferry lights passing in the background
We missed the last ferry back to the our side of things, so we took the subway under the channel.
The next morning (Thursday) we rented a car and headed to Gallipoli to visit the WW I battlefields from the Allies ill-fated Gallipoli campaign, but that story and it’s pictures will have to wait for the next installment since it is now 1130 at night and everyone else with any sense have gone to sleep.