Saturday 2 August 2014

Day 6 - Istanbul Part A

When considering which cruise to do, one of the biggest factors that swayed us towards MSC was the chance to visit Istanbul.  This sounded so incredibly exotic and the chance to experience a taste of that richness of history and culture was too good to pass up.  So this day was very exciting to us and a day that we had looked forward to for ages.

Again, we decided to join our roll call friends H&M for the day, and H very kindly took the lead in deciding what we were going to see and how we were going to arrange our day. He did a marvellous and very efficient job and I was amazed at how much we got through.

Now, I will say in advance, our #1 take home lesson from this day in Istanbul is ... make sure your camera batteries are freshly charged because this city is AMAZING!  We couldn't stop clicking! Everywhere we looked was a sumptuous feast for the eyes.

It started with our sail into the port.  This was the most beautiful and impressive of the cruise and I was delighted we had a cabin on the port side as we had gorgeous views from our balcony.



























Again, we met H&M in the Topsail Lounge for breakfast and then followed a butler off the ship.  We had become experts at insinuating ourselves behind an excursion group and traipsing along with them till we were off the ship (before anyone else) and free to do our own thing.  

Initially I had booked a guide for this day but ended up deciding that Istanbul was do-able on our own.  I am happy with our choice though I imagine we would have got a lot more out of it with an expert guide. Though after a full day at Ephesus the previous day, I was quite keen to just take a relaxed pace and not have to absorb quite so much information - especially in the heat!  And it was very hot already!  

Finding the tram was dead easy and we quickly got our tickets and established that we were on the correct side of the tram platform.  It was only minutes till a tram came along and we were in the Sultanahmet district before 9am.  






The first thing on the list was to check out the Blue Mosque.  This was still closed for prayer so we proceeded to the second on the list - to skirt round the back of the Blue Mosque to the Mosaic Museum to obtain a Muzee Pass which would give us the ability to skip the queues at some of the other attractions.  We hadn't been able to get this online - the website had been uncooperative for some time - and we had been informed by the previous days guide that the pass was now only available to Turkish citizens.  I think he was thinking of the annual pass. 

Anyway, the Mosiac Museum was still closed which was a shame but we got some gorgeous photos of the Blue Mosque.  




We then ambled back around (via a cash machine) and to the front of the Blue Mosque where we were caught up in the friendly greeting of a humble student who only wanted to talk about the soccer with us and as a gesture of welcome, to give us a book about his city.  Oh, and by the way, he was a poor student and could we make a donation to cover the cost of the book?  I gave him five euro and darling husband was NOT impressed. He felt very strongly that we had been scammed and whilst I agreed with him, I enjoyed the encounter and felt that it had been a good use of five euros to watch a hustler in action. Occasionally getting scammed can be a experience in its own right!  Plus I was happy to have the book and have since enjoyed flicking through it.  

Anyway, after a few tense moments we agreed to disagree (and I agree to not let myself get scammed again - which was fine as I had enjoyed the experience already and didn't need to repeat it).  Then we headed back to the entrance to the Blue Mosque where crowds were beginning to gather ahead of the doors opening again.











I have said it before and I am forced to say it again, the collective intelligence of a crowd always seems to sink to the lowest common denominator.  This crowd was no exception. What particularly stood out for me was all the people who waited till they had finally got to the entrance before slowly proceeding to removed their footwear. This naturally held things up immensely. As did all the women who had no idea they would have to cover their hair and needed it explained to them over and over.  Thanks to a little online research before leaving home, I already had a headscarf in my bag and a plastic bag for our shoes.  

Now, I am a firm believer in 'when in Rome...'  If local custom dictates that I wear clothing that covers my shoulders and knees and a headscarf then I will do that out of respect for the people who's land I am visiting - without demur or quibbling. But I will quietly think in the private of my own mind that its a load of male bovine faeces and I don't see why I had to cover my hair and my arms and the guys could saunter through in whatever.  My husband and I are not religious and what respect we have for the people does not extend to their daft, misogynistic, superstitious beliefs.  I found it very foreign to my culture to see so many signs of women being treated very differently than men - in a way that is easily interpreted as being treated as second class.  

This was below the Mosque and is where the men wash their feet before entering the Mosque.  The place for the women was some distance away and not attached to the Mosque.

This was an enclosed and screened area at the back of the mosque
Having had my little rant for the day, I very much enjoyed our visit to the Blue Mosque. The mosaics were magnificent.  

We entered through one door and exited through another and only had access to the back half of the Mosque.  The front half was fenced off.  I am glad we did this first though, as I found the Hagia Sophia far more impressive and I think this would have been a little ho-hum if we had visited it after.







After exiting the Blue Mosque we nipped back to the Mosaic Museum where we quickly and easily obtained the 72 hour Muze Pass. Then we walked back to the front of the Blue Mosque and across to Hagia Sophia - where we promptly saw several other vendors for the same card!  


Curiously, people were not utilising this but instead forming very long cues for the ticket office. 




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