Day 48, 21 August 2012, Old Town Istanbul by Night - Sultanahmet Blue Mosque by fountain light (pictured), Hagia Sofia, Hippodrome and Obelisks, roasted corn, baklava, ice-cream, tea house and chicken kebab. Not necessarily in that order -
Forgoing the company of others after almost 2 months with organised tour groups was a relief. The group in Africa had two functioning morons. The group in Egypt had one who combined the attributes of the previous pair - with her eyes and ears merely painted on, she could talk for hours, not hear a thing and was running on such a tight budget that the catch-cry by the time we reached Jordan (and 21 had shrunk to 5) was "Is it included?" Which was why mooching around the streets of Istanbul by night all on our ownsomes was so much fun. We ate roasted corn cobs in the local park before taking in our first views of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia at sunset. The Eid festival was coming to a close but families were everywhere and fairy floss and made-to-order lolly on a stick was incredibly popular. We walked the length of the Hippodrome where the Romans used to race chariots, bless their competitive little socks and gazed in awe at the obelisk of Theodosius. It was awe inspiring to think just a couple of weeks ago we were at the Karnak complex of Temples in Luxor where this was originally erected by Pharaoh Tuthmoses III in the mid 15th century BC. Before it was right-honourably nicked and relocated by the Romans, first to Alexandria (yep - that's where we dived the antiquities in the harbour) and then brought to Constantinople (as Istanbul once was) in 390 A.D. Tonight we lived history, if not made it, having followed the path of this monument for the last two weeks and now as two people of the year 2012 A.D. stared up at an Obelisk first erected in 1450 B.C. 3470 odd years ago. Wow. (http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Sights/Sultanahmet/Yerebatan.html)