Istanbul Day 2 - 13th October 2007

Our 2nd day of holiday didn't turn the way we wanted. It had been raining since night before and drizzling the whole day. After a late breakfast, lastly we decided to take the sightseeing tour on the hop-on hop-off bus. We start the tour at 11.40 a.m and finished 1 1/2 hours later. It started from Sultanahmet Center which is across the St. Sophia and covered 60 points. The tour is available every hour with 11 different commentary languages available. And of course with small kids and the weather we just stayed on the bus thru out the journey.

The pouring rain from our hotel lobby

Me & kids in front of the hop-on hop-off bus

Me & kids inside the bus

After the tour we headed to St. Sophia since the queue was no shorter than on Friday. It was no longer drizzling but it was chilly. The St. Sophia interior was magnificent! I can't find enough words that can describe the arts and creations of the building. The St Sophia was first a Church for 916 years, then it became a Mosque when Istanbul was conquered for 481 years and later now it is a Museum.

Me & kids in front of St. Sophia

The marble used for the inner decoration were transported from all the Mediterranean countries and especially from the quarries in Anatolia. Since the church was transformed to mosque, Fatih Sultan Mehmet, the Sultan, reserved necessary restoration to save the building. Firstly a niche was constructed in the Kaaba direction, then a brick minaret and a madrasah with 12 rooms, the cross shapes on the wall were engraved and vertical sides of the cross shapes on the doors were extracted.

Emperor Constantin Monumachus IV, Christ and Empress Zoe

Emperor Comnenos II, Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ and Empress Irene

Mihrab

Me & kids - Mimbar

Ehsan posing at the Marble Jar - it was carved from a single piece of marble

Hubby & Ehsan at the abulation fountain outside St. Sophia

After a 1 hour tour at St. Sophia, we headed to the Yerebatan Underground Cistern which is across from St. Sophia and the biggest of over 60 cisterns built in Istanbul during Byzantine period. The cisterns were used as water tanks during that time, with water supply coming from the rivers and Belgrade forest. It also protected the water from being poisoned by enemy soldiers!

Hubby & Ehsan at the entrance of Yerebatan Cistern

The atmosphere inside was complete with the lights and classical music. At the very back of the cistern were 2 Medusa heads, used as column bases. There is a myth that if we look in the eyes of the Medusa the person will be transformed to a rock. Dono how true that is! And for those who are James Bond's fan, a scene from "From Russia with Love" was filmed in Yerebatan Cistern.

Inside view of the cistern

Medusa 1 - placed upside down

Medusa 2 - placed sideways

It was 3.30 p.m when we finished our tour for the day. We decided to walked back to our hotel, have lunch and put the kids to bed to give them time to regain their energy. Hubby had his usual beef kebab, while I had rice with some ayam masak merah (lebih kurang la!) & mushrooms - I just loved the mushroom; they were so tasty and crunchy.

From top left : Ayam masak merah, Nasi (Pilaf) & Mushroom with carrot.

Since the weather looked good we decided to 'recce' some shops along the street. We took the tram towards Gulhane station and started to walk. We walked into a carpet shop and took a look at the carpets there. But then the price was way too expensive and are out of our budget. For a nice hereke (a pure silk carpet) a half meter carpet can cost about USD 2000. Macam harga sebijik motor kapcai tau! Lastly we just bought a nice display plate. On the way back we stopped at a shop selling Borek (filo pastry filled with patato). I wanted to try it. I told hubby that I wanted to taste every single food in Istanbul! Ironically, the borek turned out to be Hubby's favorite Istanbul food.

But on the way back, suddenly the rain came down so heavily that we had to run to the tram station. Pity the kids - they got wet. We managed to make it back to the hotel, and we took them for a hot shower and massaged hot oil on their feet to avoid them from getting cold. But later, Ehsan started to sneeze anyway. We had our late dinner with some leftover Pilaf, Borek and Turkish Apple Tea.

Borek - Hubby's new fav food

Turkish Apple Tea - the signature drink in Istanbul (must try.....!)