Egypt!

We booked the Egypt trip several months ago. My mom even flew over to join us on the trip. Then all hell broke loose in the region and we thought for sure we would have to cancel. After several tense weeks of watching the news and talking with our travel agent we finally decided that things had calmed down enough to make the trip. Almost all of the European countries had lifted all travel advisories for Egypt and European tourists had started to return but the US still advised against it so we were still a little nervous. Luckily everything turned out great and we had a wonderful trip without the usual crowds of tourists at the major sights.

I had so many pictures from the trip that it was difficult to upload to the blog so I just uploaded them to a web album. You can check them out here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/glanz.pics/Egypt02?authkey=Gv1sRgCNnw96qZiYn9Bw#

I'm slowly adding captions to describe everything but it's a work in progress.

Weekend in Istanbul

The boys had a holiday at school so we took advantage of the 3 day weekend to visit Istanbul. We left on Thursday afternoon and arrived that night. When we arrived at our hotel we went up to the roof top restaurant for a drink and for the great view of the Hogia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

Hogia Sophia from our hotel roof top.

The Blue Mosque from our roof.

First thing Friday morning we walked to the Hogia Sophia. Pretty impressive structure considering it was built in 537. It was the largest Cathedral in the world for 1000 years.

Some Viking graffitti

One of the amazing Mosaics. Many were well preserved since they were covered with plaster during the years the Hogia Sophia was a Mosque (1453-1931). In 1931 it became a museum and no longer a Mosque.

This is one of the best mosaics, showing Virgin Mary and Jesus in the middle with Justinian presenting the Hogia Sophia on the left and Constantine presenting the walled city of Constantinople on the right.

Next we went down to the Cistern that was also built by Justinian in the 500's. It was basically a huge water storage (100,000 square feet) with 336 columns supporting the roof. The columns were from all different stones and styles indicating that they were reused from older buildings.

A Medusa head at the base of one of the columns. Here again it was probably taken from an older building.

Friday afternoon we had a quick visit to the spice market and a boat trip on the Bosphorus

A fortress used to control the Bosphorus.

We noticed lots of playgrounds on the trip home in the tour bus. But the boys were a little too tired to take advantage of them.

Saturday Morning we started early with a guided tour of the city walls

One of the original gates to the city

After that we stopped at the Chora Church and more intricate Mosaics dating from the 1300's

After that we stopped at a cafe on a hill overlooking the end of the Golden Horn and a large Islamic cemetery.

End of the Golden Horn

Islamic headstones

As we were leaving a mosque area this boy and his family were going in for a circumcision ceremony. Jesse was very amused by the boys fancy duds.

We also made a quick stop at a church that is the headquarters for the Greek Orthodox Church. I was somewhat surprised it was still located in Istanbul given the history of conflict between the turks and the greeks.

After our tour we ended up back at the spice market and walked through the shopping district and the Grand Bazaar back to our hotel. Since it was a Saturday the shopping area was packed with people.

In the shopping district during a short break from the crowds.

In the Grand Bazaar - lots and lots of carpets

Back near our hotel we stopped into the Blue Mosque just before one of the 5 daily calls to prayer.

Obilisk at the old Hippodrome located between our hotel and the Blue Mosque

Outside the Blue Mosque

Inside the Blue Mosque

The next morning we walked over to the former Sultans Palace

Those Sultans definitely believed in the relaxed fit pants.

You would think I would look a little more excited entering the Sultans Harem (I guess it's not quit as excited when it's empty)

The faucets might be gold but I think I still prefer my western toilet.

Great view of the Bosphorus from the Sultans back deck.

One last pic from the roof of our hotel before we head to the airport.

We only had a few days but it felt like a longer trip. The locals were experts at getting to know you and talking you into their shop or restaurant. They all had something in common with you. If you were from Baltimore then they had a cousin in Baltimore, if you were tall then their father was very tall, if you had two boys they also had two boys. Many guys would chat you up while you walked for five or ten minutes before they mentioned the carpet shop they owned around the corner. You could tell that trading has been a big thing is this city for a long time. They had it down to an art.