Sultanahmet: Topkapı, Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar

On my first full weekend in Turkey, we ventured out to the Sultanahmet district to visit Topkapı Palace, the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, and wander the Grand Bazaar. It sounds like a lot until you realize it's all right next to each other. Witha s big of a city as Istanbul is, I was thinking it would be more spread out, but the "old city" is really rather confined.

We started our trip with a walk to the nearby bus stop, which had the boys whining in no time. I don't think they were used to walking everywhere just yet. We took the bus down a few stops then got on the tram, which we took all the way into the center of the neighborhood. Along the way, we saw the New Mosque and got an amazing view of the water and the Galata Tower at Eminönü. I wish I could have snapped some photos, but the tram was just too crowded on a Saturday afternoon.

When we stepped off the tram we were just a few minutes walk away from a lovely park that offered beautiful views of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, which literally face each other and are only separated by a long park, fountain, and sitting area.

The boys were getting tired already, so we decided to save going to the museums for another visit, and instead headed to Topkapı Palace, which again, was extremely close to everything else - probably less than 150 yards from the Hagia Sophia.

With the boys still feeling a bit grumpy, we decided to skip the tour of the inside of the palace. Nate had been already, and said it would probably take 2 hours to see everything. It's definitely on our "to do" list for another day though. I guess that's the joy of being here for so long, it's not like we're in a rush to see it all in a day. :-)

From Topkapı, we continued on our walk, heading back down the Hagia Sophia area and getting the boys some lunch (grilled cheese, how original of us!) and fresh pressed nar suyu (pomegranate juice). That, by the way, is a speciality in the area, and they literally press about 3 whole pomegranates just to make the small cup. It's pretty neat to watch, and tastes extremely fresh - and sour! We stopped for a few photos of neighboring mosques on the way, and continued on towards the grand bazar.

The bazaar was by far the biggest AND busiest shopping area I had ever set foot in. I believe it has over 60 covered streets. Each street ceiling is ornately decorated in similar colors and patterns, yet each is different. There were literally dozens upon dozens of stores all selling jewelry, lights, leather, metal works, trinkets, you name it. It was pretty incredible, though so busy that we didn't actually stop and buy anything.