Day one in Istanbul wasn't so bad. Finding the hostel seems to always be the biggest challenge. Our hostel is tucked away on a tiny side street, more like an alley. Directions tell the hapless one to continue up the hill to a certain mosque that isn't well labeled yet several streets go up the hill from the tram stop. And there are more mosques in Istanbu than Christian churches in Yancey County. The streets follow no pattern but worm atound as if they were intended to get one lost when they were laid out centuries ago. So we got lost but not for too long.
The neighborhood is great, right in the center of the old section. The Hagia Sophia is close by and the world's biggest market is just up the hill. All over, shops sell the same thing. There are sections for carpets, jewe;ry, clothing, ceramics...you name it. Intricate designs are the mode here. With so much competition, the shopkeepers are very aggressive but not in an unfriendly manner, So far they are tolerable.
We hiked out to the Galanta Bridge with all the fish sellers and fish restaurants below it. They say the fish is the freshest here, believable because the top of the bridge is lined with fishermen, I can't even handle the smell. I can't handle the crowds, either, Too many tourists, I'd be a lot happier just scouting out inner city neighborhoods.
The next day my nephew, Dane, joined us and we went to the old Roman Cistern. They told us it was forgotten for eons until someone finally paid attention to the locals who told of being able to lower buckets below the street and come up with fish. It was reopened and restored as a tourist attraction. It really is an interesting composition of coulumns, supposedly marble but too decomposed to be able to tell. There are two columns with heads of Medusa taken from some other older Roman structure, presumably. One is turned sideways, the reason a mystery.
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| Roman Cistern |
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| Carpet Vender at the Grand Bazaar |
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