Istanbul is the city cross both Europe and Asia. It was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The influence of Asia and Europe, the religion of Christians and Moslems, and the culture of Turks, Persians and Asians have all found their way into the daily life of this busting metropolis.
Due to some regulation change, the St. Sophia (Hagia Sophia) will only open to organized tour. Therefore we all agreed to join Princess’ tour in order to visit St. Sophia.
St. Sophia is the Church of Holy Wisdom and it is considered as the greatest work of Byzantine architecture. It took 10,000 men six years to complete it. It is one to the largest religious buildings in the world.
We also visited the Blue Mosque and Grand Bazaar. Blue Mosque is one of Istanbul’s most enduring landmarks, the grand and beautiful 17th-century mosque is renown for its domes and minarets. Its interior is decorated by more than 20,000 blue Iznik tiles, in 33 shades.
Grand Bazaar was built in the 1450s and it is the largest covered market in the world. It consists of a maze of 65 winding streets crammed with 4,000 shops, cafes and restaurants along with a mosque, a school, a post office, banks and a police station. It is shopper’s heaven. As usual, we got lots of souvenirs. Over there, we were able to practice our bargaining skills.
We also walked around in the Topkapi Palace. We did not go inside to visit the Palace, instead we sit outside the Palace and had our lunch packed from the Grand Princess.
During the dinner, we learned that it was Victor's Birthday. Jenny bought 2 bottles of wine to celebrate Victor's Birthday, Grand Princess provided a small cake, and we all had fun.
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