Turkiye 2023: Guided Tour Begins.....
The third day in Istanbul is the first full day of the guided tour. From here on, our time is no longer ours. We have a schedule to follow, but that didn't bother me at all. In fact I was excited to get this show on the road! But first breakfast. For a more established and obviously more expensive hotel, their breakfast offerings, I thought, needed to level up to the standards of their facililites. I agreed with my travel companion Sharon, who prefered the breakfast spread over at the little boutique hotel we stayed at for 2 nights, mostly because this big hotel did not carry the coffee machine that made fancy coffees that I love. However, the dining room made up for the meh coffee with the incredible views of the city.
According to our itinerary we were to have a city tour, mostly centered around Sultanahmet, which we have covered on our own on our first day here. And so I was surprised when our first order of business was a walk to Rustem Pasha Mosque, which was nowhere in the itinerary. I have not heard of it before, but I'm glad the TM (tour manager) had added it as a bonus to start this day. In order to reach it, we only have to walk a short distance. It was near the Spice Market, or should I say inside the Spice Market. We walked inside alleyways with store fronts/stalls that were still closed; we started this day quite early. And also this was a Sunday, thus, the people are still asleep.
We're out and as you can see the stores were all still closed. We owned the street.
The same mosque I featured earlier on this blog that was in front of the Spice Market, but I believe this was the back side.
Walked past the Egyptian Bazaar, aka Spice Market.
Rustem Pasha Mosque is such a beautiful mosque, and yet it's not as popular as the others in the city. It was designed by a famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, completed in 1563 and dedicated to the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha. The main attraction of this mosque is the large quantity of Iznik tiles in floral and geometric patterns. In addition, the dome is magnificent. It felt like going to a museum. An added bonus is that it is not crowded and that entry is free of charge during the times when there is no call to prayers.
On the itinerary for today was a visit to the Spice Market next door, which we had visited on our own. However, this visit was mostly a shopping trip, as the TM walked us to the "accredited stalls" for samples of tea and sweets (baklava and Turkish delight). Then an hour of free time to do as we pleased.
We quickly made our purchases here since the prices were mostly the same, as we had browsed on previous visit.
Once the purchases were completed we decided to just walk around, not to the usual stalls but around back or something and ended up in a beautiful courtyard that served as outdoor seating for 3-4 restaurants including a coffee shop. Now good coffee is what we needed that moment.
Turkish coffee is strong, so sip slowly. It is served with a glass of cold water to cleanse the palate and rinse out left over coffee grounds. Here the water that they served tasted like a watered-down pomegranate juice. The courtyard is also home to a family of cats, which gotten a whole lot of attention to all the diners.
The coffee store inside the Spice Market. We got a bag or two of ground Turkish coffee.
We gathered outside the market and when we were all accounted for we walked to board the bus to take us to Sultanahmet. This was a short ride.
In Sultanahmet, we had picture stop at the courtyard of the Blue Mosque, a short visit to the Hippodrome.
I had taken so much photos here the last two days, but I still managed to snap a couple or so since the day was so beautiful.
Hagia Sophia
Getting busy around the Blue Mosque.
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL! PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYONE!
According to our itinerary we were to have a city tour, mostly centered around Sultanahmet, which we have covered on our own on our first day here. And so I was surprised when our first order of business was a walk to Rustem Pasha Mosque, which was nowhere in the itinerary. I have not heard of it before, but I'm glad the TM (tour manager) had added it as a bonus to start this day. In order to reach it, we only have to walk a short distance. It was near the Spice Market, or should I say inside the Spice Market. We walked inside alleyways with store fronts/stalls that were still closed; we started this day quite early. And also this was a Sunday, thus, the people are still asleep.
We're out and as you can see the stores were all still closed. We owned the street.
The same mosque I featured earlier on this blog that was in front of the Spice Market, but I believe this was the back side.
Walked past the Egyptian Bazaar, aka Spice Market.
Rustem Pasha Mosque is such a beautiful mosque, and yet it's not as popular as the others in the city. It was designed by a famous Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, completed in 1563 and dedicated to the Grand Vizier Rüstem Pasha. The main attraction of this mosque is the large quantity of Iznik tiles in floral and geometric patterns. In addition, the dome is magnificent. It felt like going to a museum. An added bonus is that it is not crowded and that entry is free of charge during the times when there is no call to prayers.
On the itinerary for today was a visit to the Spice Market next door, which we had visited on our own. However, this visit was mostly a shopping trip, as the TM walked us to the "accredited stalls" for samples of tea and sweets (baklava and Turkish delight). Then an hour of free time to do as we pleased.
We quickly made our purchases here since the prices were mostly the same, as we had browsed on previous visit.
Once the purchases were completed we decided to just walk around, not to the usual stalls but around back or something and ended up in a beautiful courtyard that served as outdoor seating for 3-4 restaurants including a coffee shop. Now good coffee is what we needed that moment.
Turkish coffee is strong, so sip slowly. It is served with a glass of cold water to cleanse the palate and rinse out left over coffee grounds. Here the water that they served tasted like a watered-down pomegranate juice. The courtyard is also home to a family of cats, which gotten a whole lot of attention to all the diners.
The coffee store inside the Spice Market. We got a bag or two of ground Turkish coffee.
We gathered outside the market and when we were all accounted for we walked to board the bus to take us to Sultanahmet. This was a short ride.
In Sultanahmet, we had picture stop at the courtyard of the Blue Mosque, a short visit to the Hippodrome.
I had taken so much photos here the last two days, but I still managed to snap a couple or so since the day was so beautiful.
Hagia Sophia
Getting busy around the Blue Mosque.
A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL! PEACE AND LOVE TO EVERYONE!
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