After a long (4:00 am Saturday to 11:00 am Sunday, with a
ten-hour time change) but uneventful trip, we arrived at our hotel in the Old
Town area of Istanbul. While waiting for
our room to be readied, we walked around the immediate vicinity and were delighted
to find how close our digs are to many of the major sights on our
itinerary. A very few minutes’ walk
brought us to the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque and Hippodrome.
After a quick lunch in a tiny mom and pop (OK, sister and
brother) restaurant, we finished checking in and headed off to cross the Golden
Horn (a finger-like bay off the Bosphorus
Strait) to the New District. We
walked along the fish restaurants on the lower level of the Galata Bridge and
the line of fishermen on the upper deck, watched a lone (crazy) swimmer amid
busy the boat and ferry traffic, took a tram along the Bosphorus and a
funicular up to Taksim Square. This is
the bustling heart of the New District and the starting point for our walk down
the pedestrian Istiklal Street. On this
warm Sunday afternoon, it seemed as if a third of Istanbul’s 15 million people
filled this promenade; the word “throng” must have originated here! Once down the hill, we decided we’d traveled
enough miles for this weekend, and caught the tram to cross the Golden Horn
back to our hotel.
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