We had a relaxed day today, no scheduling to worry about. We were both awake at 2 a.m. but managed to drop off again until 7:30 - seven hours time difference is quite a lot to get used to. We had a slow breakfast at the hotel, a huge omelette and lots of coffee, before heading out for some sightseeing.
We are within an easy five minute walk to the Sultanahmet historic area which contains the famous Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and Topkapi Palace. We visited them all on our last visit to Istanbul and didn’t think they would have changed that much! We went inside the Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) as it has recently reopened after a three year refurbishment. The blue tiles that dominate the interior are beautiful. It was quite busy inside, we had to remove our shoes and I had to cover my head - luckily they provided scarfs for ladies who didn’t have their own - Ian thought I looked like a Polish cleaning lady 🤣
We had a simple takeout lunch in the park - some stuffed vine leaves and a cappuccino.
We met the Tour Manager and the rest of the group for dinner tonight, it is a fairly small group - 10 total, 7 Canadians and 3 Americans. We all walked to a local restaurant for dinner and had an assortment of typical Turkish dishes.
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