Corn, fish sandwiches, and the art of bargaining

Nothing like a wee sleep in when you have an overnight bus ahead. We didn’t even wake up for the early call to prayer!

First on the agenda today was the Hagia Sofia. Hagia Sofia is not named after a person but actually means the wisdom of God. Originally built as a Christian church in 537, it was the largest Christian church in the world. When the Ottomans came nine centuries later, the Sultans added 4 minarets and made it into a mosque which also had significant importance in the Muslim world. When Turkey became a secular republic in 1923 there was a lasting argument about who should be able to pray in the Hagia Sofia. Finally in 1936 the diplomatic leader Atatürk declared that it should become a museum so that 1. It was fair and 2. So that anybody could access the building. This has led to some spectacular renovations to show both Christian and Muslim

decorations within the building. It is quite incredible to see it all preserved side by side. P.s. the audio guide is definitely worth it for this one, there are many guides who will offer a ‘good price' but we found the audioguide to be just fine. Which meant that we had plenty of money left over to spend on some streetfood for lunch.

Everywhere you go in central Istanbul you will never be far from a bread, juice or corn stall. Freshly cooked corn on the cob doused in salt goes for around 3TL or 40p and it is YUM! We had also heard stories about some legendary fish sandwiches from boats down near Galata Bridge so Crom topped up with one of those and I had a sesame bagel like bread. Two pounds well spent for lunch!

The other tip we had was to do our shopping not in the Grand Bazaar but in the Egyptian Spice Bazaar, so off we went. Turns out neither of us have the art of bargaining but we have come away with some beautiful things (at what we think wasn’t a bad price...) and had some wonderful conversations with those who were doing the selling. The smells, colours, and sheer number of people here is an experience in itself!

We decided to head uphill for some wandering and found ourselves amongst what felt like thousands of Turkish people out to do their shopping (on a Thursday afternoon...). We eventually found our way up to the Grand Bazaar where we had a delicious, if not horrendously overpriced, Turkish coffee whilst hiding from the rain and then perused the Grand Bazaar with a deal not to buy anything here! The Grand Bazaar is the largest and oldest Islamic covered market in the world. It has about 4,000 shops, has 66 streets and employs over 30,000 people selling everything from clothes and souvenirs to handmade carpets and handmade jewellery. It is so funny walking around listening to the sellers trying to get you into their shop.

A few hours left to kill before our bus so we decided to get the ferry over to the Asian side for a cup of çay on the rocks and to catch the start of the sunset. You can literally buy çay anywhere here! There are also cats and dogs everywhere in this country, but people really look after them by putting out food for them. On the rocks on the seafront was no exception with cats running everywhere.

Dinner on a rooftop terrace and then an eventful cab ride to the bus station rounded off the day nicely. Now to see how much sleep we will get on the bus tonight....