Istanbul 9/17 - Ayasofya & Sultanahmet

Ayasofya (St. Sofia) - Byzantine cathedral built in 537.  Turned into a mosque by Mehmed II (conqueror of Istanbul) in 1453.

View of Ayasofya from outside of The Blue Mosque.

Sultanahmet (The Blue Mosque) - Istanbul's most important imperial mosques.  Constructed by Ahmed I during the years 1603-1616.

Inside The Blue Mosque. 

Beautiful Turkish ceramic tiling.  These pictures do no justice.

Istanbul 9/16

Burger King "walk through"

McDonalds "walk through" - you won't find a drive through in this city.

Main train station ahead

Restaurants under the bridge, one particularly famous for their mackerel sandwiches.  Never tried it.

View from under the bridge

Long, hot day of walking = Long, cool night of relaxing. Drunk deb not pictured, as if! BTW, those aren't my cigs.

Istanbul 9/16 - Ferry ride to & from Asian side

Istanbul 9/16 - Walk to the harbor

Istanbul 9/16 - Street Cats

I was surprised by the number of stray cats I saw throughout the city.  A local told me it keeps the rat population down.  Makes sense I guess since I never saw one while I was there.

I was really sad for this one.  If you look close enough (though I wouldn't recommend it) you can see that he is well, not well.

Istanbul 9/15 - Mannequin central

Wandering the streets, we ended up in a shopping district area selling mostly mannequins. Here's a few that caught my eye...

Istanbul 9/15 - Turkish Food

Loved it!

Turkish Delights

Turkish Doner

Turkish Damm good food!