We also decided to visit the Harem which was probably the most impressive building in the whole place. The Turkish tiles in here are amazing and the place is a labyrinth. One of the Sultans had 256 concubines so this explains the size of the place.
From here we visited the Blue Mosque from the 17th Century and then a few of us headed to the Basilica Cistern during the lunch break. The cistern is one of the magnificent historical structures of Istanbul. This enormous underground cistern was built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian 527-565. It is nicknamed the sunken palace with its 336 columns. The cistern is 9,800square meters and has the capacity of 100,000 tons of water storage. It definitely is a site worth seeing.
After lunch we hit the Grand Bazaar with its amazing sites and colours. After some shopping it was amazing just to walk around and take in all the sites and sounds of this shopping wonderland.
After 1.5hours in the Grand Bazaar we did our cruise of the Bosphorus which is a natural strait that divides two continents Asia and Europe. We saw beautify mansions, Palace of Ottoman Sultans and castles which we hope to explore tomorrow.
After our cruise we had our end of tour celebration dinner at a restaurant called Poisson on the waterfront in Besiktas. It is sad to say goodbye to everyone including our driver Turguy and our wonderful tour guide Orhan. After 2 weeks sharing our travels with all these people you do build relationships. Our guide has even invited us to all come back and stay with him if we ever return.
We have 2 more nights in Istanbul before 3 nights in Dubai. Tomorrow is the religious sacrifice festival were they slaughter mostly sheep and give 90% of it away to people who need it like the poor, orphanages and charity's. The sites and shops should open around 1.00pm so we can have a nice lazy morning not having to stress about getting bags out on time or what time the bus is leaving.
Until tomorrow J&N
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