İstanbul - Gün 2

Day 2 of that glorious Turkish kahvaltı (breakfast). Fresh cucumbers, tomatos, olives, cheeses, bread, pastries, eggs, and the added surprise of grapes. A strong glass of çay, and then it's off into the city again.


The first half of the day was dedicated to a cruise along the Bosphorous. Above you see the view from a cafe by Pierre Lotti. On a clear day, you should be able to see seven hills of İstanbul. However, we had gray weather the entire time. Oddly, Pierre Lotti Cafe is situated over a rather large cemetary. You can see the headstones on the left.


We proceeded to take the boat down the Bosphorous, our tour guide using the muffled speaker to point out various sites. The most striking feature of the waterways of İstanbul is that they're absolutely packed with boats. Filled with freight liners, fishing boats, tug boats, ferry boats, everything.


I'm not sure if you can make out the dual-domed building in the above photo. There's a close-up below:

On the right, you may be able to make out a cross, on the left dome is a rather Muslim-looking dome decoration. It is one building split in two- one half for a church, the other for a mosque.


Interior tile work at Topkapı Palace
After lunch, we headed to Topkapı Palace, which was absolutely gorgeous. The harem wasn't open, so we paid to see the treasury instead. Topkapı Palace apparently houses the Prophet Mohammad's beard hairs, footprints, teeth, and various other belongings. There were swords, too many tea sets to count, silverware, porcelain work from China, decadent candlesticks, sparkling thrones of every sort of material, and the ever famous Topkapı dagger. Lots of emeralds, turquoise, and the world's 5th largest diamond. On a more disgusting note, I also go to see the arm and skull of St. John the Baptist. This palace was arranged around 4 courtyards, each very green and pleasant open areas.

There was a tulip garden in the last courtyard, attributed to the "Tulip Age"- some former sultan's favorite flower.


The sink for washing feet and hands (before prayer) were set within the courtyard


Iris under the İftariye Baldachin
İbrahim the Mad built this gold structure for breaking the Ramazan fast.


Beautiful Iznik tiles on the circumcision room

Topkapı Palace took the entire rest of the day. We had dinner at a restaurant under Galata Bridge with a nice view of the Yeni Camii.