İstanbul - Gün 3

Today we slept in a bit (maybe until 9am!) and then broke down and visited Tur-Ista Travel Agency who did all of our planning- the plane, the buses, the hotels, the tours, etc. etc. After having so many people tell us our plan was impossible, it was nice to have someone make it happen. At first, we couldn't decide what to do and mom hid her face in her coat. Erdoğan said, "Why don't you let me book this tour?", so we gave up and let him.


A courtyard outside of Süleymaniye Mosque
We headed over to the Süleymaniye Mosque. We accidentally ended up in Beyazıt Mosque, but slowly found our way to the correct one, by wandering around the perimeter of İstanbul Univeristy. The mosques were both very nice. The interior of Süleymaniye was not as decorative as the Blue Mosque, but its surrounding courtyards were much more pleasant.

Süleymaniye Mosque was designed by the famous architect, Sinan, who has a university named after him in İstanbul. I was entertained by the stained glass, designed by İbrahim the Drunk.

Then, we had lunch right outside Süleymaniye Mosque, at a cafe which apparently had nothing on its menu except fried eggs. So, fried eggs and bread for lunch!

On our way back, we did some souvenir shopping. We did a lot of souvenir shopping. First, we bought some evil eye pillow cases from a man named Omar in a little shopping area behind the Aya Sofia. Then, we were sucked into this large shop, full of all the tacky souvenir stuff I've seen all over the country. However, we didn't have to haggle with the prices (bargaining gets old and tired after a short while), so we were delighted. Time seemed to stop in the store, as we looked at scented prayer beads, fluorescent-lit Aya Sofias, cheap scarves, and all sorts of other useless items. We emerged from the store, and it was dark outside.

Dinner was a meal in some Turkish bar off of İstiklal Caddesi. Turkish bar food consists of either chicken cooked on a stick, or lamb meatballs (köfte), or something similarly simple and greasy. Mom made the mistake of ordering an "American Salad" which is apparently potato salad, made with yogurt (not mayonnaise!), and mixed with peas and carrots. I believe I find the stuff in my sandwiches and cheeseburgers on campus.