Taksim, Galata and the Grand Bazaar

The second day, we walked along the main streets and squares in Istanbul, namely İstiklal Avenue which starts at the Taksim square and sort of ends near the Galata bridge.

Breakfast by Nazlı

Glass art by the children in the Taksim metro station

Great music coming out of the kanun, a string instrument similar
to the chinese gu zheng.

Beautifully painted tiles

Ataturk's monument at the Taksim square 

Baklava

Along the istiklal, a major shopping street in Istanbul.

Turkish ice cream seller with bell =).

Lady making mantı.

Seasonal fruits in Turkey in the summer.

View from the Galata tower.

An amazing number of sport fisherman.  The fish they catch are
reallysmall, just the size of the palm of your hand.

Children swimming the crystal clear waters near the Galata bridge
on the golden horn.

I forgot what the dish with rice wrapped leaves were called.  We
had this for lunch, together with Ayran which is yogurt with water and
salt.

Inside the grand bazaar.  You can find almost anything here.

Again... too much food.

Istanbul, at the golden horn (Day 1)

Recently I flew from Copenhagen to visit Istanbul with an overnight stay in the 'wonderful' Swiss airport of Zurich.  I was greeted with extremely hot weather and an equally warm local populace.  It was not really difficult to figure out the way to the Golden horn where most of the must-see attractions are as the connectivity of European part of Istanbul is really quite extensive.

The blue mosque, Sultan Ahmet mosque.  It is still used as a mosque (I know, this sounds redundant but some other places like the Hagia Sophia is now a museum).

Right.  So the first thing you see after stepping of the tram at the sultanahmet stop is the Blue Mosque. Pictures are above.  This structure has really too many domes for its own good.  When you enter, you will notice that the interior is all blue with many geometrically styled mosaics.

I followed the flow of tourists walking away from the blue mosque and ended up in Hagia Sophia, the largest cathedral in the medieval world for almost a thousand years.  Unlike the blue mosque which did not have an entrance fee, the Hagia Sophia is a museum and required one to part ways with 25 turkish liras but this amount is totally worth it.  If you are planning to visit many other similar museums in Istanbul, it is more cost effective to get a museum card.  There are restoration works in the Hagia Sophia were byzantine era mosaics were uncovered since after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks.

Ayasophia or Hagia Sophia viewed from the blue mosque.
Uncovered mosaics	More of these mosaics	Putting your hand in it supposedly heals eyesight and helps with infertility?

The European side (or was it the Anatolian?)
of Istanbul from the ferry to Kadıköy

I left the Hagia Sophia after an hour or so resting and taking advantage of the shade since the weather was terribly hot and the sun very strong outside.  I had a ferry ride across the Bosporus strait.  Anywhere you look, you see buildings and a photo opportunity.  It costs 2TL (Turkish Lira) to get on one of the many ferries that operate to many different destinations across the Bosporus.

There was actually nothing interesting on this Anatolian side of Istanbul but it was nice to just take a short trip across to enjoy the view of the European side.  Later in the evening, I took the Metrobus, across the bridge.  The view is really very amazing and unfortunately my camera does not work that well at night so you do not get night time pictures here, ha ha.  I met up with a friend of a friend from Lund and she let me stay for the night.

Can you see the bridge?  One side european and the
other asian!  Talk about intercontinental!

The park next to the Topkapı