Sunday in Istanbul

We were waiting outside Aya Sofya before it opened so we could avoid the worst of the crowds. 

It started life as a church in 5 hundred & something - built in 6 years by 100,000 slaves & 1,000 engineers. Ok the main dome collapsed a few years later, but they managed to fix that problem - architects eh.  Anyway it lasted as a Christian church for nearly a thousand years before the rise of the Ottomans .

Then the minarets were added and the edifice became a mosque for 500 years. It's now a huge museum full of history.

After having fab weather so far, it absolutely bucketed down as we were leaving the church/mosque/museum, so I sat down on the marble floor of the exit hall to wait it out - & promptly started a trend - that's me, a trendsetter.

The afternoon cleared up and we took a 5km walk around the waterfront - a bit like Tamaki drive without the houses. Being Sunday there were lots of couples and families strolling, and groups of men huddled in amongst the rocks picnicking and making tea out of samovars. And even a few hardy men & boys swimming - the tide fair clips along at the convergence of the 2 seas.

Street food here seems to be seasonal, and at the moment it's chargrilled sweet corn, roasted chestnuts, and sesame coated pretzels. And everyone flocks to these foodcarts.

There's simply throngs of people in Istanbul - and everything from tourists in shorts and singlets, to devout Muslims in the full black regalia with just the eyes showing.

And it's a beautiful city on 2 sides across the Golden Horn, and more ancient suburbs across the Bosphorus. And of course spectacular mosques dominating the skyline.

And everyone is so friendly - of course they want you to buy or eat something, but there's no pressure, and they simply like to chat. They also like to get in my way when I'm walking, but perhaps it's not personal!

After dinner we wandered the old hippodrome where 100,000 people used to gather in Roman times to watch chariot races. There's nothing left of the hippodrome except for 3 ancient plinths; 1 of which is said to be 3 & 1/2 thousand years old, & originally came from Egypt - it way doesn't look that old.