27/12/2023
Wednesday, and there was a fresh market in front of our hotel's carpark. They came the next Wednesday too.
Everything they selling was so fresh that their "reject" basket was better than those of our supermarket. I am serious.
Went to play with a big white dog which seemed to be the resident pet of a building next to our hotel. We had no idea what building it was and it just looked like a shop house.
Next, a handsome local who could speak chinese came to talk to us and turned out the building was the entrance to an underground exhibition.
This was a hidden gem, very near the Blue Mosque yet hardly people knew about it.
We were very fortunate to chance upon this incredible exhibition and we were the only visitors at that point of time.
It was all because of this exhibition, we got to know more about the existing Sultanahmet Park, and the area we walked through daily was a horse racing venue.
Structure of the underground.
We spend about 20mins in the small exhibition and was time to move on.
I was "cat seeing" instead of sight seeing.
Awwwww.... our ancient horse racing ground.
Could see how precious this park was, water truck washing the park.
Day time was very short during winter. Sunrise after 9am.
Public washroom in the park.
Tourism Police sounded weird, I mean the police serves only tourists and not they own people?? Or was it name this way so that tourists would not be afraid to approach them?
There's a beautiful sense of peace here in the morning before the crowd stepped in.
I knew about these tourists bus that you could hopped on and off various attractions, but not too cost effective unless you intend to visit like more than 5 places in a day.
We preferred to chilled our way since the tram was like S$1 per trip.
Turkish government must be so proud of this region and really could see their effort in keeping this park so clean.
We were early, the seagulls were bathing and drinking from the fountain which hadn't start yet. Meant that there's no chlorine in the water? So they had to change the water very regularly, right?
Sunrise was warm.
Sultanahmet Park at that instant was the best park in world to me.
Cat walking around the fountain on the ring of beautiful mosaic art.
Bought sesame ring bread with white cheese. Would taste better if it was warm.
The seagull were as big as chickens and they were not afraid of humans. The locals must have been be so kind to them.
Joined the short and fast queue into Hagia Sophia Mosque.
I kept a black thin head scarf in my bag all the time in case I want to visit any mosque along the way.
Looking almost like a Muslim when I actually bought this black dress from Japan.
This historical mosque was found in 360 AD, lovely pink stone exterior here.
Inside was stunning with art work from walls to ceiling.
It's a mix of western and eastern art, since this was build as a church initially.
Portrait of Mother Mary was behind the white drape.
When we were out, the queue tripled it's length. Who said it was low-peak travel season? There's no low peak at all in Istanbul.
I carried this black kitty down from height, it was trying to jump down but was too afraid to do so. Perhaps due to language barrier, it walked away without saying thank you.
The sign was very big I know, but we just couldn't find the place and entrance.
Corn and chestnut stall steaming in cold winter.
We found our way after asking a policer officer.
Basilica Cistern was closed in 2017 for restoration and was only opened in 2022. So we were very lucky to be able to visit.
Amazing under reservoir with more than 300 marble columns.
I read online that this provide water to Topkapi Palace in the past, had no idea how the water transport over though.
Metal rings clipping the columns.
Not sure what's this.
We bumped into a group of primary school students having their excursion and it was kinda lively.
Column of evil eyes.
Entrance to Basilica Cistern was 450TL per pax during our visit.
Next we moved on to the Grand Bazaar.
Not exactly near but it was a interesting walk, even took a pic with the ambulance lolxx...
Glad that we were on the right track.
Walked pass this little cafe Sutis calling us for brunch.
Individual packed cube sugar was sooooooo cute.
It's very cozy and nice, all good for us.
Total 275TL only.
And the next door had roast chicken, but we no stomach space already.
Looked like Paris here.
Hafiz Mustafa every where.
Scooters for rent.
At every turn there would be a mosque, a huge and at least a few hundred years old one.
This was one of the entrance into Grand Bazaar, it had over 4000 shops spreading over 30,700sqm of area. We just wanted to take quick look and leave cos many had commented online everything was expensive here. But we actually found a few honest shops with price tags on their merchandise.
Didn't expect to see a Salt Bae's restaurant here, I thought there's only one branch near Galata Tower.
There was even his wax statue lolxx...
Looks like this sprinkle salt fellow is earning big bucks lolxx...
The child size chef shirt was so cute.
Sweater actually looked quite nice. But managed to resist it on second thought.
Although it was a historical bazaar, very little trace of history could be felt or seen, it's too busy and too commericalized.
We were happily walking and looking, totally forgotten that we needed to get to the photo studio.
Supposed to be walking towards the direction of Egyptian Bazaar, we ended up the opposite nearer to Sultanahmet Station.
So we took our first tram ride to Eminonu Station
We bought only 1 Istanbul card, it could be tapped twice for the 2 of us.
This was Eminonu area and it was so freaking beautiful here.
Fruits were fresh and huge here, this cabbage was easily 5kg, felt heavier than a bag of rice.
This was Istanbul, lively, busy and safe.
Their candies gave me diabetes just by looking at them waahaahaa....
Walked pass Turkey İş Bank Museum.
Was build in 1892 as a post office. Later it became a bank and now it's a museum.
Yeni Cami Mosque peeping. I confused this with the Blue Mosque many times.
Stamina running low again. Time for tea break.
Very sweet white chocolate cake perfect with slightly bitter tea.
Tried Turkish coffee, it was like expresso just that they left the powder in the cup.
Old man took a very nice pic of me.
Shopping opportunities everywhere, I was staring at this shop while drinking coffee.
Finally on the right track to the Egyptian Bazaar.
Yeni Cami Mosque.
Went to frighten the pigeons.
It's bustling in the area with both tourists and locals.
Cat turned it's back on me lolxx...
Then...... the old man bought 10 wheat heads no matter how I dissuaded.
He... haiz... over here.
And the both of us lost again in this nuts stall, as in stall selling assorted nuts.
Meat stall. I would buy if we were staying in an AirBnb with kitchen. Looked really tempting.
Seafood.
Cheese! I wanna cook lolxx...
These were too sweet for us.
Their shallots sibei swee...
Seeds that didn't look real, also no idea what were they.
Outside the spice bazaar.
Walked pass this shop selling coffee, apparently it was very famous, there was a short queue.
Shop selling Xmas decors, was very very tempted to buy.
We were totally stuck in the bazaar and couldn't get to the photo studio in time, haahaahaa... so had to make another trip.
I am 100% sure that Turkish love animals. Doggies and cats are free to roam about. They will not be chased out or even shoved away.
This big fur kid laying inside a cosmetic shop.
Old man had serious craving for Mcdonalds. We ordered a quarter pounder set to share, cos I was still full from tea break.
No chilli sauce here.
It was not bad.
Passed by Nakkas the underground exhibition place, and back to the hotel for early night. We needed to catch a morning flight to Izmir the next day.
