RANDOM STREET SCENES

After our visit to the Hagia  we walked through the streets to have lunch in a small , out of the way hotel.  Lunch was served in a second story enclosed veranda.  It was very good.  I was sitting with a couple from Canada and happened to mention that my camera battery died.  The woman asked to see my camera.  I showed it to her and she happen to have the same camera and an extra battery.  She  gave me her extra battery to use the rest of the day.  After lunch we boarded our bus and was off to the rug demonstration and a visit to the Grand Bazaar.  

The Grand Bazaar is huge.  There is one main street with a lot of side streets and alleyways.  I walked all the way through and back and then explored a few side streets.  I read somewhere that bargaining was expected by the shopkeepers.  As Americans that is sometimes hard to do because we are used to paying full price.  I saw a pair of sunglasses that I liked so I asked the price.  The answer came back dollars, euros or Turkish lire?  I answered dollars.  He said 10.00.  I also read that you should start at 60% of the asking price and expect to pay 75%.  I answered $6.00.  He said OK.  I got a nice pair of sunglasses for $6.00.  I explored a little more and then walked back to the meeting place to catch the bus to the Blue Mosque.

HAGIA SOPHIA MUSEUM

After Topkapi palace we walked to the Hagia Sophia museum.  Since its dedication in 360 A.D., it has served as a Catholic church(both Roman and Eastern Orthodox) a Mosque and now a museum.  This is the third church built on this site.  The first two were burned during riots.  The existing building was built by Emperor Justinian in 527.  It is huge and unfortunately I didn't have a lot of time to explore.

 Sign at the entrance.

 Ceiling of the foyer before entering the church.

 At this point my camera died and the rest of these pictures were taken on my cell phone.

The interior

A different angle.

A little closer.

Scene over a door.

Scene over the door leaving the church.

TOPKAPI PALACE

Our first stop was Topkapi palace.  Construction started in 1459 by order of the sultan Mehmed ll.  He conquered Byzantine Constantinople.  It served as the residence of the Ottoman Sultans for nearly 400 years.  It is now a museum which houses many fine pieces of Chinese porcelain, jewels and the famous Topkapi dagger  There was a movie in the mid 60's called Topkapi  staring Peter Ustinov. They were trying to steal the dagger.  Also, the museum contains Holy Relics of the Muslim world including items that belonged to Mohammed. 

Our guide gave us our tickets and a time and place to meet and let us go on our own.  Pictures were not allowed in the museum and I can understand why.  The Topkapi dagger is jewel encrusted.   There is a diamond that is 86 carats. There is a lot of gold possessions of the Sultans.  It was quite impressive. 

The line of people waiting to buy tickets

Entrance to the museum

Palace grounds

The museum was made up of various buildings.  This is an entrance to a part of the museum. 

Thought this was an interesting scroll.  I have no idea what it represents.

ISTANBUL NOT CONSTANTINOPLE

Istanbul was not what I expected.  I'm not sure what my expectation was, but it was not what I got.  I was pleasantly surprised.  It is a very modern European city and very clean and beautiful.  The tour I took was jam packed with sites to see and very little time at those sites, plus a visit to the Grand Bazaar, a rug demo and lunch.  Please watch the video.  It has pictures of places I didn't visit and shows the beauty of Istanbul.

 It was a national holiday the day we arrived.  That accounts for all the flags and the crowds at the sites.

Photo ops on our way to our first stop.

DELOS THE BIRTHPLACE OF APOLLO

Delos is a small island about a 30 minute boat ride from Mykonos.  It is the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.  It is an active archaeological site and for as old as it is very well preserved.  It was a holy sanctuary and an important religious site to the ancient Greeks.  It was a very prosperous island until the 1st century B.C.  For more information click here  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delos
With all the thunder and lightning we had this morning, I was thoroughly convinced that the Gods were not happy that we were on Delos.

 Birthplace of Apollo and Artemis

 Mosaic floor.  Well preserved

Sewer system

RIDE BACK TO ALEXANDRIA

After the visit to the Sphinx we returned to the Mena House Oberoi for a fantastic buffet lunch before heading back to Alexandria and our ship.  The return trip to Alexandria was an adventure by itself.  In fact the travel time in the bus was an adventure.  There are several "rules of the road" in Egypt   I think the number one rule is:  I'm bigger than you are!!  Get out of my way!!!  Another one is : I want to go that way, there is an open lane, so what if I'm going against the flow of traffic there is no "one way sign".  Hey, there's a roadside stand.  I'm hungry and thirsty.  I'll stop here. If I block the lane, they"ll go around me.  It was an
absolute trip. Part of the time it was as good as a ride at Disney World.  Our bus shared the road with trucks, 10 passenger taxi vans, cars, horse and donkey carts, three wheel motorcycles and pedestrians who would madly dash across the road at any time.   Our driver did a fantastic job!!!!  
Egypt is a fascinating country and I would like to go back and spend more time exploring it.

 The next three pictures are of the 10 passenger taxi vans.  They would stop where ever they wanted to discharge and pick up passengers.  One stopped at the beginning of a bridge over the Nile.

 Street market in the middle of the street.

 Van Taxis

Taken out the front window of the bus.  Notice how close the truck is.

Alexandria neighborhood.

THE SPHINX OF GIZA

After the pyramids we went down to the Sphinx. There is an ongoing debate as to the purpose of and who built the Sphinx.  There were other buildings around and near it.  In order to get to it you have to go through  a causeway.  You follow the path through the causeway and arrive at,  for a lack of a better word, an observation platform.  This causeway and observation platform were at one time buildings.  As I'm standing there I wondered what was the function of these buildings:  Funeral preparation, slave quarters or what?
  To say that it is a magnificent structure is an understatement.  You can get much closer to it than you can to the pyramids.  It was just something else to realize that you are standing next to something that is almost 5,000 year old.  It truly was breathtaking.  On the platform were Egyptian children ages 10 to 14 working the tourists by taking their picture in front of the Sphinx.  Still slightly pissed from my camel ride, I ignored them.

The kids worked this guy.  In this pose his extended fist is punching the Sphinx in the nose.

I took this picture myself.