5th May - The Mosques

We wake at 6:00 - we roll  back over - eventually we relent and rise for breakfast - 8:30 and the breakfast room is pleasantly occupied - service people are everywhere - Turkish food is in abundance - service is prompt and cordial.

We try local cheese's, local bread, local yogurt and Turkish coffee - we enjoy it all! 

By 9:00 we find ourselves chatting with a conceige while we wait for the taxi he has ordered - "the blue mosque" he says to the driver. 

We expect Istanbul traffic at pretty hour to be a problem - it isn't! - we stop in a laneway - "up there" says he as he swipe our wise card.

We walk into the hippodrome - occupied by tourists but not over-occupied.

We wander - we are spotted by the "touters and  sprukers and carpet sales people.

The first: 

"that is a nice looking couple" - "let me geese" - "ah-stra-len"

We smile and he moves on sensing that the nice looking couple would not prove to be a productive target 

The second: 

"You ah-stra-len" - "gud-ay meat" "wan som vee gee mite" - "you from sid and ee". "No from Brisbane" said I  - this fellow actually doesn't know Brisbane exists and proceeds to  claim friends in Sydney . He  shows me his phone with a picture of a Turkish looking Australian politician. "I get you into blue mosque for free" says he  - "but the entry into the blue mosque IS free" says Bernie. He gives up and moves on to his next target.

The third:

"Wan - na buy some carpet" - no mate - "I have carpet every where at home!" says I  - why someone would be touting for carpet business at the Blue Mosque is beyond me. 

We wander alone into the Blue Mosque. Bernie covers her head with her jacket - inelegant but sufficient to satisfy the tourist police.

The mosque is impressive - it is   a little crowded and the floor is sufficiently uneven to make a shoeless Bernie unsteady and wary - the three combine to detract from the quality of our experience and to make us both thankful we had seen it in video form before we had traveled . Nevertheless we, like everyone else, photographed and photographed  until billions and billions and billions of electrons moved from place to place inside thousands of mobile phones!

We wander out into the pleasant sunshine - we wander towards the Hangar Sophia - the line to buy tickets is long - very long - we are truly daunted by it - we stand and look - there are skip the line signs - we are a little interested - we stand and look some more 

 We are approached by a middle aged Turkish man - he has a lanyard and ID that at least looks official. His English is passable - he explains that he is a "skip the line guide" - he tells us the normal ticket prices, the skip the line prices and his charge to guide us through - we accept his offer and the financial burden it imposes.

He it's true to his promises - while the "skip the line" line itself is long it is not excessively so - he produces a headscarf for Bernie and we quickly progress into the Hangia Sophia - " be careful of the floor" says he - "hold on to the rail" says he - we are guided around - we see dome and icon - we see mosaics and adornments - we are told of precedent structures - of their ravaging by rioters - of building and rebuilding - of changes in religious ownership - of empires that came and went - of Christian mosaics inlaid with gold that suffered the dual indignities of pilfering and plastering over at the time of religious ownership changes - of the relatively recent uncovering of Christian mosaics. We photographed and were photographed!

We make an ATM work, paid our debit to the guide and adorn to the Pudding Shop - "90 years old" says the guide as he departs to seek out another couple to add to his day's take - cappuccino and baklava.

We fire up the Uber app - the driver has trouble finding us but we eventually get home

We are tired but pleased with the day - we agree our appetite for crowded historic structures is on the wain. 

We will dinner at the local fish restaurant tonight - Bernie deserves that!