Istanbul Day 3: Topkapi Palace, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar

I'm typing this up as we wait for our shuttle to the airport for our early early morning flights. We finished the "must-sees" in Istanbul today as we could no longer put off the tourist hot spots. We started the morning early at Topkapi Palace, a huuuuge palace next to Hagia Sophia. There are a few redone interiors which are gorgeous and we saw an interesting museum exhibit on the Prophet Mohammad and a few of his belongings (including some of his preserved beard hairs), but the coolest part of the palace was its size.

Afterwards we took a deep breath and waited in quite the line to visit the Blue Mosque (seriously, if you ever come to Istanbul I recommend spring or fall when the bus loads from the cruises aren't so intense). It went by faster than expected and we headed off for one last apple tea to steel ourselves for the grand bazaar. We made it to the grand bazaar just fine but the prices and the crowds were so ridiculous that we wandered away from the scene to get prices closer to what you could find similar souvenirs for in Syria (eg. $3 vs. $13). We definitely felt a lot more comfortable in the more "normal" bazaar area with fewer tourists (even if it meant fewer women and some more stares) and found exactly what we needed! Here are some last minute snaps:

Tiles inside Topkapi

Topkapi ceiling

And again

Hagia Sophia from Topkapi

Inside the Blue Mosque

Ceiling of the Blue Mosque

Famous Turkish coffee

Pretty bazaar spices

We just heard our last call to prayer for awhile so I guess it's time to say thanks for reading the blog! I'll hopefully see you again here next summer but until then, see you stateside!