Istanbul...Day Three

Today Aysun was keeping Fayth home with her & Aras and sending us on another "She" tour. We would be seeing the famous St. Sophia, Blue Mosque, Hippodrome, and ending our 1/2 day tour at the famous Bazaar! St. Sophia was amazing. It is an ancient basilica, built by Constantine the Great in the 4th century and reconstructed by Justinian in the 6th century. It is an architectural marvel of all time. Then across from it, built in the 17th century is the Blue Mosque, known for the interior decoration of the blue iznik tiles. I LOVED this one!! It started my shopping journey for some beautiful plates or bowls. It was just gorgeous!! And I also happen to really like blue and white...so it was breathtaking. My favorite for sure!!

Next, it was onto the Hippodrome...the scene of ancient chariot races...which Jon of course found to be very fascinating. After that, our "history lessons" had ended we headed to the GRAND BAZAAR...which I'm sure you've heard about if you know anything about Istanbul. It is a covered market and has over 4000 shops in it. Each type of good has it's own area...like carpet sellers, Turkish arts and crafts, and handpainted ceramic plates. If you recall from above...I was on a mission...(OH...Jon was so patient and GOOD...I had them laid out on the ground and changed my mind a million times...but I was buying for more than just myself...It was a perfect place to buy some souvies and gifts for our families when we stay with them this summer!!) I loved looking at them all and finding the most perfect ones.

Finally, we had enough of the Bizarre and headed by taxi back to Toxium Square to grab lunch on the famous street. It was an enjoyable day...just the two of us. We had lunch, some cocktails, and shopped some more before taking a taxi home to make sure Aysun survived the day!! Well, she had and after showering and cleaning up...we all headed by foot to a local Turkish restaurant in their neighborhood. It was about 8:00 pm and as we were leaving Semih asked Aysun for the keys...well...you know the rest...YES...too much commotion and they got locked inside. So...Aysun, myself, and the kids headed to the restaurant while Jon and Semih handled the locksmith. We were about 3/4 bottle down of Shiraz and had eaten all the hummus and bread when they arrived over an hour and half later. They were famished and Semih did it "Turkish Style"...he ordered all the food and we tried everything...well, most for me~~!! We had Meze (tons of cold appetizers), kebap (kabobs to us), and dessert. It is a tradition to not only eat a yummy fancy dessert but to eat fruit after your meal as your dessert or later in the evening after a meal. We did this on a nightly basis. I fell in love with the little green plums and began stealing them from all the restaurants we ate at...it was actually quite funny!! I bought home a slew of them to eat this week. I LOVE EM!! Fayth finally passed out in her stroller around 10 pm and allowed for us to relax and finish our dinner & the bottle of wine. It was a beautiful place and we sat outside near a fountain. I didn't take pictures this night...but it was fabulous and a really nice treat. Thanks Aysun and Semih...it turned out to be a wonderful evening after all!! And yes...we did get to sleep in their home. The locksmith was able to get in!! Hurray for that!! Another wonderful day!!

Final thought...made us all chuckle...at dinner Jon said, "That Bizarre was amazing...I could have just spent a week there!!" We were laughing at him...he was dead serious!! So see...he has some shopping "genes" in him, too!!