Revisiting Istanbul’s best

Conquering jetlag

We were surprised to have slept till 0615 despite the 6h time change from Seoul.  [Edit: It turned out that we adjusted to local time straight up as we had no issues on subsequent days too.]

We had an early breakfast soon after it opened at 0700.  Looking up my notes from my previous visit to Ayasofya, I had encountered around an hour’s queueing turning up at 0900.

So, we promptly walked uphill to the square to join the queue at 0845.  We had a total of 20 min wait, getting to the security screening five minutes after it opened at 0900.

I can never tire of visiting the Ayasofya.  Even with a visit eight months ago, I’m still wow-ed by the place and taken in by its tranquility despite the visitors.  Fears of about having it being reinstated as a mosque have been unfounded as visitors are now welcome for free.

However, the upstairs gallery is now closed and the outside tombs are under restoration.

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We walked across to the Sultanahmet “Blue” mosque around 0945 for another visit because my previous visits had been unfruitful with the interior completely obscured by boards during restoration.  To my surprise, almost all the work had now been done and we were able to enjoy the beauty of the mosque.  When I looked at my old photos from pre-restoration, I didn’t have enough good photos to make a good comparison of the difference.

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We took a look the hippodrome outside around 1100.  I hadn’t spent much time wandering here, as it’s kinda overtaken by the two major sights we had just been to.

Of note was the German Fountain to commemorate the German emperor’s visit to Istanbul in 1898.  Also, there was the Obelisk of Theodosius from around 1450 BC, brought over by the Romans to Istanbul.

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After a simple lunch, we rested at the hotel in the afternoon, as the intention was to relax in Istanbul, a city we both have visited repeatedly.

In the hotel café, Kim got talked into a pair of Airpods for TRY300 (USD11 or NZD19) by an itinerant salesman even though he has a pair of earbuds sitting at home unused.  They turned out to be very good quality.  The serial number on the paper box when entered into the Apple site results in an error but the serial number on the charging case is valid.  I doubt that means much but it’s a good little thing to have while on the road.

We had an evening walk before taking dinner at an eatery on low stools outside the post office.  Tonight, we treated ourselves to a dessert of Turkish rice pudding nearby.  I opted to upgrade my mine to include nuts, not knowing what that entailed.  It turned out to be the same pudding served with a generous portion of finely ground nuts (possibly peanuts).