The next morning we set out to explore without a plan of what we were going to see. We were staying in Sultanahmet, and it seems this is where all the sights are. Before we knew it we walked past the Aya Sofya and into Topkapi Palace.
There are some fascinating finds within the Topkapi Palace; lovely views, great big trees in the central courtyard and many golden, ruby and diamond encrusted treasures. Interestingly they have Moses' staff, John the Baptist's mummified arm and skull, and pieces of Mohammed's beard. These items have survived for several thousand years (Moses' staff dates from 3500 B.C.), and given the careful attention to preservation we saw these things may last for another thousand or so years!
We made an exploratory dip into the Grand Bazaar to change some USD into TRY (New Turkish Lira); this is a confusing maze of shops. We made note of several shops that we planned to return to but never found them again.
There are some fascinating finds within the Topkapi Palace; lovely views, great big trees in the central courtyard and many golden, ruby and diamond encrusted treasures. Interestingly they have Moses' staff, John the Baptist's mummified arm and skull, and pieces of Mohammed's beard. These items have survived for several thousand years (Moses' staff dates from 3500 B.C.), and given the careful attention to preservation we saw these things may last for another thousand or so years!
We made an exploratory dip into the Grand Bazaar to change some USD into TRY (New Turkish Lira); this is a confusing maze of shops. We made note of several shops that we planned to return to but never found them again.
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