18000 Steps and Lots of Meat

Today was our day to get acquainted with Istanbul.  We headed out to the Old City, specifically the Sultanahmet area.  Armed with our Istanbul transit pass we took the Metro (subway), the Funicular and the Tramvay to get to our destination.  Once there it was time for lunch.  Meat balls were the meal of choice.  It was a fast yet tasty lunch.

We walked around the Topkapi Palace, the Fountain of Ahmet III and through some of the Sultan’s tombs.  The tile work and all of the artwork in the tombs were beautiful.  Then we were on our way to the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome and the Haghia Sophia.  We passed by the Cagaloglu Baths (Turkish baths) in our travels as well.  Unfortunately, the queues to go into all of these were long and we had too much ground to cover to do them now.  Hopefully another weekend will work for longer visits.

Our last stop before we jumped back on the Tramvay was at the ‘Little Haghia Sophia’, a church built in 527.  It was the Byzantine Church of SS Sergius and Bacchus’ Church, now a mosque.  We arrived shortly before prayers so made a quick visit in before them.

Our metro ride back proved most entertaining as many local football fans were heading off to cheer their team on in an evening match.  There was much singing, cheering and jumping going on in that train ride.

Dinner tonight was a restaurant close to the hotel which specialized in kebabs.  It was delightful and presentation was lovely.  There were many choices, all served family-style ….. very nicely seasoned meats of all kinds …. Meatball, some kind of raw meat, chicken wings, lamb ribs, beef kebabs!  It is a different style of eating from what I am used to but most certainly worth trying.  #ibmcsc turkey