ISTANBUL

We left Cappadocia (they pronounce it Cappadokia) early on Wed. morning and flew to Istanbul. We spent Wed. touring the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia Museum (which was originally an Orthodox church that was turned into a Mosque before it became a museum) and then a huge underground cistern system where they would store water so if any of the enemies tried to poison their water. They had a large amount stored until they could finish any war they might be engaged in. Then we just went and waked around the main area of Istanbul Wed. evening to see a lot of the sights after dark.

One interesting side note - we were talking with our tour guide in Cappadocia about how friendly we have noticed the Turkish people are. He said that in Istanbul they are not always as friendly and they fight more. Well, while we walking around last night we saw a fist fight so I guess he was right. We also saw a van run into a motorcycle and the poor guy on the motorcycle was sure shook up but he was ok.

1. Exterior of Blue Mosque
2-7. Inside the Blue Mosque
8-9. Blue Mosque
10. Outside the Magia Sofia
11-20. Inside of the Hagia Sofia
21. Column at an angle on the Hagia Sofia that is this way from earthquake
22. From the underground cistern
23. people on the street. It was this every street you went on and every direction. There are over 15 million people in Istanbul
24-25. Exterior of Hagia Sofia