Day 3: Hagia Sophia & Archaeology Museum

On our first full day in Istanbul, we ate breakfast at our hotel and then headed out for some sightseeing. And, what do we come across, but the finish line of the Istanbul Marathon and 15K! Had we known, we would have tried to do the 15K.There is so much history in Istanbul. It was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for close to 1,000 years, and then it was the capital of the Ottoman Empire for nearly 500 more. Remnants of its past glory are everywhere!

Take, for example, this pillar:
Our destination was Hagia Sophia, though getting there was a bit more challenging than anticipated due to the race course. Incidentally, this great structure was the catalyst for our trip to Istanbul. It plays a role in one of my favorite books, The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

The outside:From this viewpoint, if we swiveled 180 degrees, we had a view of the impressive Blue Mosque (visited later in the trip).
Relaxing on a bench, enjoying the day:I was reading about what to expect in Hagia Sophia:Renovations have been going on for decades and are very slowly progressing, hence the scaffolding on the left side of this picture:Hagia Sophia was originally a cathedral under the Byzantines (Eastern Romans) and then turned into a mosque under the Ottomans. In the 1930s, it was transformed again, this time into a museum.Because of its history, Christian and Muslim symbols are present.It's a bit hard to see, but this pigeon had entered the museum and is perched on a metal beam:Still tired from our trip, we spent a fair amount of time watching him fly around.

Outside was a frieze of sheep from the Byzantine period:After our visit and just in time to soak the 4+ hour marathoners, it started to rain. Prior to leaving for Istanbul, we'd checked the weather and rain was predicted for every day. W e lucked out, as this was the only rain we'd face our entire trip.

Umbrellas were everywhere and I was amazed at how quickly all of the street vendors were selling them! Since we are not made of sugar and find walking down narrow streets to be quite unwieldy with an umbrella, we just quickened our pace and walked on.
The Archaeology Museum was our destination:As you can imagine, the historical artifacts we saw were amazing. Brian is looking at some stelae:
We never made it over to the ancient ruins of Troy, but this museum had a replica of the Trojan Horse:The Archaeology Museum is housed in several buildings; in between buildings, we stopped for some refreshments:Whenever we purchased a drink in a can (i.e. soda, juice), we were given a straw.

Back inside, I posed next to many different ancient carvings:
I think this lion may have been my favorite piece:
Famished, we headed over to lunch. Outside of the restaurant (right along the marathon course):We spent the rest of the day walking around, soaking up the city. Dinner was eaten at a nondescript and disappointing restaurant. We didn't even think to take a picture!

Exhausted, we returned to our room. Since it wasn't as hot as the night before, we were able to close the window and get a better night's sleep as the Angry Men's Arguing Club's noises were muffled.

Day 3: Botanical Gardens

On Monday, our first full day in Dublin, we slept in a bit. Then we got ready and headed out to the Botanical Gardens.

En route, we walked along the quai along the River Liffey. That modern-looking building in the background of this picture was across from the street on which our hotel was located, so we saw it several times a day. It reminded us of a soda can tipped over a bit.Brian got a little too close to the edge for my liking:
I saw what I thought was some kind of modern sculpture along the dock; upon closer inspection, we realized that it was some kind of useful object for the ships in the river:
We saw the Jeanie Johnston replica of a ship that took people suffering from the potato famine to America. According to our guidebook, these were often called "coffin ships" due to the fact that many passengers never made it to their destination. Not so for the people on the Jeanie Johnston; over 2,500 people in 16 journeys made it safely with no fatalities!

The ship was not available for tours, so this was as close as we got to it:
Continuing our walk along the river, we crossed the Millennium Bridge, not knowing its name and remarking at how it resembled the Millennium Bridge in London.
On the other side of the bridge was a mall. We stopped there and had breakfast at a cafe inside:
We crossed this little stream and stopped to watch the waterfowl:We stopped at an ATM as we had almost exhausted the supply of euros we had left over from previous trips.Finally, after a walk much longer than we anticipated, we arrived at the Botanical Gardens:Planning our visit:
I'm sure they are even more spectacular during the summer, but we still enjoyed our visit.
Until our last day in Ireland, the only rain we experienced was in the Palm House:
We had lunch at the cafe in the Gardens:
The breads (almost hidden by the soup bowls) were especially delicious!

Sadly, the Waterlily House was closed for some obviously much-needed renovations!
Exiting the Gardens, we stumbled upon a cemetery, so we walked around some.Then, we decided to take a bus back to the City Center instead of walking. Unfortunately, we waited on the wrong side of the street for quite some time, missing buses that would have taken us to our destination. It probably would have been quicker to walk!
When we made it back into town, a pub stop was definitely in order! The place we went made their own beer, so Brian had a house beer while I had a cider.Fortified, we headed back out for some more sightseeing. We stopped at Whitefriar Street Church to see the St. Valentine relics. We didn't take pictures.

Then, we went to the Marsh Library, which I highly recommend to anyone visiting Dublin.

Outside the gate to the library:
Pictures weren't allowed inside, sadly, but we had a great visit! It's the first public library in Ireland and is over 300 years old, still in its original location! We had very pleasant conversations with two of the guards.

Exiting the area:
As we'd seen in London, the streets remind pedestrians which way to look for oncoming traffic:
St. Patrick's Cathedral was visible in the distance, so that was our next destination.
The inside:
We arrived close to closing time, so didn't spend a lot of time inside the cathedral. We walked around town some more, looking for a place for dinner.

We ended up eating at Govinda's Vegetarian Restaurant; the food was quite delicious!
After dinner, we returned to our hotel, tired.