Exotic Istanbul

Up at the crack of dawn to see that we were docked in the middle of the Bosphorus surrounded by the city of Istanbul. We booked an all day tour that took us to: 1) A carpet huckster. Nuff said...no carpets for us! 2) The Grand Bazaar, a massive shopping area full of gold, silver, knock-off purses, andd 22 Euro T-Shirts. Spent no money there! 3) The Blue Mosque....WOW, it was almost as beautiful as the Alabaster mosque in Cairo. Our guide was not as good so we were less impressed, I think. Still it was a massive, stunning, and working mosque. 4) Next to Ayasofya or Hagia Sofia, which is a museum but had been a mosque and a church. Also very massive and beautiful. 5) A boat trip down the Bosphorus, which combined sightseeing and a true Turkish lunch....including Turkish Delight (Quite good, too). The sights were amazing, the river is lined with palaces, large homes, nightclubs, schools and ruins. 6) Topkapi Palace, the former home of the sultans. Very large, interesting and had a display of the sultans treasures that was magnificent. What a day...Istanbul is a very ancient, modern, cosmopolitan, contradictory city. It was clean and people were well dressed. The traffic was crazy but occasionally they obeyed the traffic signals!