What a wonderful city

Very early next morning; 6am, we both physical and mentally woke up in a new country. This was due to the fact that the speakers from the nearby mosque were the pounding the first Morning Prayer over the sleeping city. Our room which was situated next to the reception, made it possible for us to hear the night receptionist joining the prayer from the speakers of the nearby mosques. We looked at each other; laught and decided to get up even though it was the break of dawn and that we arrived quiet late the night before. Unfortunately Kaija wasn’t feeling that good, she had a sore throat but felt like breakfast.

The restaurant opened their serving af the breakfast as of 6.

30. We were the first to enter but surprisingly a lot of other early raisers were also ready to fill their stomachs before their attack of the joys of this wonderful city. The restaurant was situated on the first floor on a terrace from where we could overview some of the city, amongst the impressing sights were the magnificent Hagia Sophia, which to me after the visit to it is one of the most amazing buildings I have seen.

The Hagia Sophia is famous in particular for its massive dome, which was just in front of us while we were sitting there enjoying the breakfast. This mosque is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. It was the largest cathedral ever built in the world for nearly a thousand years! The current building was originally constructed as a church between A.D. 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Eating breakfast in a beautiful sunrise over Istanbul and looking at a building that was almost 1500 years old while was for me the most fantastic way to start a day in this splendid city.

We took it easy and enjoyed the different breads and a couple of cups of coffee before we finished and decided to walk to the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque or Sultan Ahmed Mosque as its more rightfully is named. The streets were empty and clean, when we arrived the rain was flushing down but at this moment the sun was getting stronger and the temperature was already getting close to 20 degrees. We started by walking to Haghia Sophia which was only 500 meters from the hotel and we were both enjoying the sense of a different culture just by looking in the windows of the shops we sere passing.

Walking among a fantastic building like Hagia Sophia or the Blue Mosque while the rest of the tourists were sleeping or getting quietly out of their beds was very liberating, there was absolutely no sense of urgency, everything was very calm and sleepy.

We had the early sun smooching us in the face and we were very lucky in having these marvelous buildings almost for ourselves. A downside was naturally that we couldn’t enter the mosques becase they didn't open before 9am but the walk around them was for me very rewarding and relaxing.

Outside the Blue Mosque I saw a man checking out all bushes and trees and I was wondering why! Well actually I still do! I was sure that he wasn’t looking for stray cats but I suspected that he was checking for dangerous devises, like bombes or so every morning; what a job! We strolled around in the area for almost 2 hours and we met a lot of friendly locals asking to our wellbeing and in general just smiling towards us.

On the way back to the hotel we met a guy who walked along with us, he was telling about the different things in the area and was in general just helpful.

ATMs - no I dont see any!

We met him while we were watching a strange traffic accident involving a police car. The car looked like it had been dropped from the sky being stuck between a large flower arrangement and a light pole. The sight was also the main attraction for all the police of Istanbul and they were probably were laughing their pants off due their colleagues bad driving.

Just before the hotel he said that we should take a look into his store which was selling local handicraft and carpets. It was not a sales proposition but he was just proud about it. Inside one of his workers showed us a lot of different carpets and told us a lot about them.

He knew that he wouldn’t be able to sell to us but he still took his time showing what he had there, which I found amazing. Kaija don’t like these carpets and my different Iranian Naim’s were already filling the basement storage room so I had no intention of buying more, but I always enjoy a good lecture when I can get one.

After the talk to the local carpet sales guy we walked back to the hotel because Kaija wanted to get back because she wasn’t feeling well.

A couple of hours later I left her sleeping in the hotel room and I decided to walk a little further in the area.

I walked some of the small streets that didn’t lead anywhere; well that’s how I felt anyway. After half an hour’s walk along Gulhani Parki trying to get to the other side of the wall; just to find out that the side I was walking on was the right one, I saw the Istanbul Sirkeci railway station, and started to feel some of the activities that is the characteristic of a great city. I walked down the water enjoying the traffic of the many ferries and the enormous amount of men standing fishing at the shore of the Bosphorus.

I walked along the water intrigued by the numerous of people running back and forth to the ferries and decided to walk towards the The Galata Bridge that spans the Golden Horn.

On the bridge there were even more men standing fishing and all the fishing lines made it look like a spider had sun its web all over it. I walked down under Ragip Gumuspala and the shop down there gave me a first indication of the environment that would meet me in the Bazaar.

Just when I came up the prayer machine from the mosques started to compete on the attention. I found the whole situation absolutely fantastic. There were people of all kinds and colours and the sound was just everything I had imagined. The scent from the spice market started also to come and I found myself as far away from Brussels as I could come this day.

I walked in to the bazaar and was dazzled by it all; it was not the kind of gods that was on display but more the absorption of all the different things, the sounds and colours that greeted me there.

After enjoying the Bazaar for more than a couple of hours Kaija called me and said that she was feeling a bit better. I hurried back to the hotel to pick her up and I couldn’t wait for her to see some of the sights I just had been introduced to.

We walked back to the Bazaar again and she liked it as well, especially the gold streets. We walked a couple hours and then she wanted to return to the hotel and stay in bed again, but at least she had seen more than I had hoped for in the morning.