After breakfast, we grabbed a taxi and headed to
Chora Church. Like the
Hagia Sophia, it was a church, converted to a mosque, converted to a museum. It is known for its beautiful Byzantine mosaics.
We got there a bit early, before it opened, so we sat in a cafe and read a bit about what we were about to see:
We're not sure what this cat did to earn the medal he was wearing:
Here is the entrance to the church; pretty unassuming:
Cats in the courtyard:
The outside of the church:
And the inside, with views of some of the mosaics:
Me, in the interior:
After leaving the church, we walked around the area a bit and explored the city walls that once kept Istanbul safe.
We also saw a rare Turkish Van cat, though we didn't realize it at the time and didn't get a picture! She was all white and had one blue eye and one green. She was so striking and beautiful, but gone before we thought to take her picture. The rest of the trip, we closely examined the eyes of the white cats we ran across, but didn't find another van.
The steps to get to the top of the walls was so steep, we didn't even realize it was a staircase at first!
I made it!
To try to give the idea of exactly how steep it was, here's a view looking down:
We were rewarded with views of the city, in my opinion superior to those we saw yesterday at the
Galata Tower, and free!
The walkway to reach the tower was treacherous; several feet wide, no handrail, and a steep drop down on both sides!
Standing on 5
th century walls, watching 21st century traffic file by:
Here's another view of the crossing to get back to the steep staircase that will lead us back to the ground:
Brian went down first, and then me. A bit more difficult than going up!
Near the city walls was an old
cemetery, so we wandered around a bit:
We headed in the direction of our next destination with the intention of grabbing a cab. But, before we got there, we ran across some chickens in a park:
This duck and chicken were following each other around, inseparable:
We sat down in the park to enjoy watching the chickens a bit, and to plan our next move:
We went to the Bulgarian church, which was constructed in Vienna out of metal and brought, prefabricated, to Istanbul.
The outside:
The inside:
A scary tomb in the courtyard:
We then caught a cab that dropped us off at the
Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent.
Sadly, much of it was inaccessible due to renovations. In the courtyard, I pet a cat:
This picture was taken in one of the smaller structures; the burial place of
Suleyman and many of his children:
We ate lunch at an outdoor cafe popular with students (this is close to Istanbul University).
Our guidebook said not to miss their pumpkin dessert, so we tried it:
After lunch, we headed for a Turkish bath, known as
hamam. This is the outside; no pictures were taken inside:
As expected, it was ridiculously hot in the
hamam, so we needed to drink a lot of water to rehydrate ourselves:
We did enjoy the
hamam, and on our next visit to Turkey, will do one the night we get there, to help us recover from the plane ride.
We walked around a bit, hitting the Spice Bazaar, and doing some people watching.
I couldn't help but take a picture of this scene unfolding in front of us. We're right on a busy street, but a wrought iron fence separates the plaza from the busy street. A man got dropped off in a taxi, along with many garbage bags! We sat watching for 10 minutes or so, but nothing happened and then we went on our way. How bizarre!
Where to, next?
We visited another mosque, of which we didn't take any pictures, and then went to a cafe for a beer.
We were given a tiny treasure chest into which we placed our payment:
While walking around and trying to decide where to eat dinner, we came across a barbershop and Brian decided to get a shave. In an effort to pack light, he hadn't brought a razor with him and was just planning on growing facial hair on the trip, but his plans suddenly changed.
Before:
During:
And after:
We ate dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. I just had water to drink; Brian had
ayran -- a Turkish yogurt drink.
As usual, being the exciting night owls we are, we walked around a bit more and then headed back to our hotel.
We didn't visit any of the famed cemeteries, but here's a drive-by picture of some of the monuments:
Even the airport check-in counter was decorated for Mardi Gras (the wreath in the background):
Waiting for the plane:
Our flight home happened without a hitch, and another successful vacation complete!
In line, waiting to get on the boat:
View of the harbor from the boat:
The boat took us about 30 miles off of the shore, to a marine sanctuary. We had a great day for seeing marine wildlife. The dolphins were very playful and swam close to the boat:
The naturalist pointed out two kinds of whales. This is a humpback's tail:
I know we also saw finback whales. These next two pictures are of whales, either humpbacks or finbacks.
Inside the boat, having a snack:
Back on dry land, we wandered over to the Public Gardens and Boston Common. They are separate entities, but right next to each other.
This guy with no shirt but suspenders kept us entertained for quite some time. He was quite the dancer!
We walked to the Granary Burying Ground, which is one of Boston's oldest cemetaries. Benjamin Franklin's parents are buried here.
A man handed out folders of information at the entrance, so you could do a self-guided tour:
We took the T to Chinatown and ate at My Thai Vegan Cafe, where we had an absolutely delicious meal. Since everything was vegetarian (vegan, actually), we had so many choices!
We walked back towards our apartment, taking in the nightlife and stretching our legs.
We then went to a sandwich place for lunch:
We took a bus out to Mt. Auburn Cemetery, a national historic landmark. The literature we received at the cemetery said that the success of the landscaping led to public parks and gardens becoming more popular in America.
At the top of a tower placed at the highest spot in the cemetery:
Waiting to take the bus back to Cambridge:
A friend had recommended that we go to John Harvard's Brew House, so of course we did! We had some beer and appetizers.
Inside:
Back in Boston, we stopped in a park to decide our next move:
This street sign was not so helpful, at least from this angle:
Without realizing that there was a Bruins home playoff game taking place that night, we decided to eat at Boston Beer Works. The restaurant was right across the street from the Garden, where the Bruins and Celtics play:
We were pretty much the only people not wearing Bruins or Red Sox gear. We were early enough to get a table right away:
Yum!
I had one of their microbrews that had actual blueberries in it:
Walking back to the apartment, we stopped at another Boston institution, Mike's Pastry. There were lines out the door and snaking down the block most nights. We weren't willing to wait that long, but this night was crowded inside, but not to an unmanageable degree.
And with the pastries:
We each had a cannoli for dessert, and then another one for breakfast the next day. They were good, but not any better than any other pastry we ate this week. I don't understand the long lines!
Here is the entrance to the church; pretty unassuming:
Cats in the courtyard:
The outside of the church:
And the inside, with views of some of the mosaics:
