Istanbul day 2

Istanbul: day 2: off on a bus trip bright and early this morning..there is lots to do today. The Blue Mosque was our first stop before 8am! Called this because of the blue tiles that line most of the surfaces inside the Mosque.The Mosque has one central cupola and four semi domes. The floor where the worshipers pray is covered in Turkish rugs. Women pray seperately from the men in an area upstairs.

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The Hagia Sophia Museum was spectacular.Yet again such an ancient buikding created in the 6th centturt as a Byzantune work.The walls are lined with colourful marble and the copola is approx 104ft in diameter..huge..the amazing architecture and structure in these buildings is staggering considering there were no cranes or modern equipment to help get everything into place.

The Topkapi Palace on the edge of the peninsula overlooking the sea was again amazing. Here is housed many wonderful artifacts encrusted in jewels including swords, helmets, baby cradles, eating utensils , andit is apparently the richest collection of its kind in the world. I would believe it as the stones in some of these things are hugh.Here the large Kasikci diamond (an 86carat diamond) is housed and is one of the largest in the world . No one was allowed to photograph any of the jewels so here are some shots around the grounds and in some of the other buildings. Like so many other buildings they are very ornate. All in all a magical day.

Our last stop was the baazar which houses 4000 shops and is a seething, moving, noisy and exciting place. Most of the times it is overwhelming as there are so many people and so many men trying to coax you into their shops to buy stuff! Leather is very good here and we both got beautiful jackets.. so soft and luxurious to wear.