iSTANBUL!

Arrived at 5 a.m. on Thursday, which is why I found myself up writing my blog at 3.30 a.m. today. Body not keeping up with time zones.

Weather misty, overcast. Light rain at times, but not enough, so far, to keep us indoors.

We are walking round, mouths open, trying to understand the weight of ancient history and stone, the vastness of great open spaces inside and outside. The first photo above shows a dome of the Sultanahmet mosque, called "The Blue Mosque" by outsiders. A wide open floor space, carpeted; quiet, despite the numbers of visitors. Few of the faithful praying while we were there: the middle of a work day. Below is the Sultanahmet Mosque behind the van of a pretzel seller.



People here seem friendly, helpful. The men in the Old City smoke outside their shops and restaurants. The beautiful flagstone streets wear cigarette butts, like punctuation marks, between the stones. The men try to lure you into their shops, but seem polite enough when you refuse. But it's the women that I appreciate most. Every time we get on a tram, a woman gets up and offers her seat to me. One time a woman invited me to sit down, and a man tried to jump into the empty seat. She told him, in no uncertain terms, that the seat was for me. I'm always happy enough to sit down; my knees are suffering from all the walking. I've never been offered a seat in a train or bus in Sydney.

Here are three young women who were happy to allow me take their photo. They're wearing the blue scarf that they were given when they visited the mosque, as I was.





Yesterday we visited the Grand Bazaar and then went for a ferry trip up and down the Bosphorus.







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Location:Çetinkaya Sokak,Cankurtaran,Turkey