Greetings from Istanbul Day 3

Hello,

All is well in Istanbul!! Everyone is doing fine.

We had another full day here in Turkey. This morning we visited the Topkapi Palace which served as the center of the Ottoman government and residence of the Sultan for hundreds of years. It is a large palace with a walled courtyard within a courtyard. This was the residence of the Sultan and his harem. We saw many of collections from the Sultan including fine glazed ware from China, precious jewels, imperial swords as well as religious items, e.g. containers of some of the hairs from Muhammed's beard.

After our tour of the palace we had lunch at a roof top restaurant, grilled meats, bread, rice, and watermellon.

We then drove to the Chora Church which is a small but impressive place. It has spectacular mosaics and frescos on its walls and ceilings. One section has scenes from the life of Christ.

We end the day with cruise on the Bosphorus. We boarded the boat and sailed between Asia and Europe.

After we finished our boat ride we walked to the Spice Market and several people sampled the Turkish Delight and various other candies and nuts.

Several from the group made their way to the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul to do some shopping. This is probably the largest market of its type with thousands of shops.

We end the day with dinner on the glass terrance of our hotel.

Tomorrow we head out of Istanbul for a long drive to the west coast of Turkey. We will visit the site of Troy and Assos tomorrow.

John Wineland
Istanbul, Turkey