Istanbul was Constantinople,now its a moonlit Turkish delight!

 

Heading into the city of Istanbul

Already its amazing to see!

The skyline is filled with mosques

The reddish buildings are the new passenger cruise terminal a state of the art terminal. It is more like an airline terminal inside but a very long walk from our ship to the immigration station! We have a visit tonight to an authentic Hamami or Turkish bath. It will be an interesting adventure for me!

The New Mosque at night (new as in built by the Ottomans in 1600s)

Views of nighttime Istanbul on our way to the Hamami

Founded in 1741

Interesting building.. we entered into a restaurant then moved through hallways till we made it to the Hamami. Men and Women are separated and have their own facilities and attendants. This was billed as a night of exfoliation and bubbles….and music of the Sultans

Around the top of this fountain on the second floor were changing rooms called lockers. Inside each room there were Turkish Towels, beauty products, slippers,etc for you to change into. Then you went downstairs into the Hamami itself. There was a large domed room that was hot,hot hot. In the middle was a large round marble slab that was heated. Along the sides were various sinks that were marble and very old. The steam room itself where the heat was even hotter, was in a corner and dark. We steamed for about 15-20 minutes. Then the lady attendants took us near to the basins and using a metal pot, dunked us with water and rinsed us.  Then we each laid on the marble slab( on so very warm) and they proceeded to scrub us with a rough glove. ALL over both sides!

 Then came more water rinse with the pans of water ( most of us decided it was more like being water boarded.)then with using some kind of fat cloth bag we were covered with bubbles..lot and lots of bubbles! Like being in a bubble bath but not in a tub! I think I looked like a giant bubble whale!then more water boarding and a message…a Turkish massage, which means every bit of my body was pushed and pulled into relaxing whether I wanted to or not. After another water boarding session we were treated to our hair washed and a brief towel drying. Next we were treated to sitting at little tables with tea, a pomegranate drink with herbs and some Turkish delight.

Looking out my “locker”

The ceiling in the restaurant.

Our glow after our treatments! I think Al had the same experience. Although his massage might have bruised an old broken rib (next day he was bent with a little pain)

It was an enjoyable  if not interesting evening. Im not sure if I enjoyed it or not but at least I can say I did it! And we did indeed sleep well all night! Tomorrow we have a bus tour around the city with a boat tour on the Bosphorus Strait . Plus a stop at a mosque..A very full day!

These pictures are along our bus ride. I can’t remember what everything is but please enjoy the sights. This is the most beautiful city and I really want to come back here to stay longer.

Everywhere you turn, in almost every block there is a Mosque. This morning I woke early and heard the call to prayer. It was something wonderful and Erie at the same time. Since yesterday was the last day of Ramadan, Today will be a very festive day . The Eid-al-Fitr. The city will be closed and everyone will be out celebrating with family. Viking made some modifications to our schedule taking into account the closures of most markets and sights.

The city walls. Like most ancient cities, huge think walls were built to fortify and provide safety for the inhabitants.

A Christian church

 

The walls have openings with towers .                                            Roman Aqueducts 

                                                  Our visit to a mosque

 Rustem Pasha Mosque. Like most neighborhood mosques the building has stores and markets on the bottom with the worship area on the second floor.

Inside the tile work was amazing! The entire room was filled with beauty. 

 The ceiling was equally beautiful. This is a very beautiful space for prayer.

Leaving the shopping area under the mosque

Hanging dried vegetables and fruits

AFter the Moosque visit we walked over to where our boat was waiting to cruise up and down the Bosphorus strait. This body of water runs between Asia and Europe.  Istanbul straddles both continents .

The Blue Mosque

It was a cloudy day and looked like the skies were going to open up and pour rain. 

During the entire journey, we saw some of the most amazing sites.

Notice the line of people waiting near waters edge? 

This is what they were waiting to see:

This was a new amphibian ship  that houses helicopters and drones built by Turkey and was just posted to Istanbul this week. Everyone we spoke with showed such pride and admiration for this ship. Today was an open house for all citizens to tour the ship. It was amazing to see the line of people that went at least 2 km long waiting hours to be able to go onto the ship. 

As we came back to the ship to grab lunch and head out Abigail, the skies opened up and the rains came down solid.  We decided to take a nap instead…..When we awoke and looked out the crowds were packing into the streets and the festive had started.