Another early start, even though we are in a muslim city and it is Ramadan, the mighty tourism dollar does not rest. We had a prearranged small guided tour of the area of Sutlanahmet. Off the boat at 7:45 looking for 'Robert' on a sign. After a few minutes of panic, as there was every name but 'Robert' on a sign, Selime our guide from Istanbul Daily Tours arrived. Our confirmation email said that we would be in a group of 8, after a hurried conversation with others waiting we hurried into a mini van (more on that later). We ended up sharing the tour with an couples from American and England respectively. First stop was the Hippodrome, that has been developed since ancient times and only has open space bordered by buildings and the Blue Mosque. The surviving structures are the Obelisks, the structure of the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia looms large in the square, due it being a Friday of Ramadan, the Blue Mosque was closed for all tours today. This was a slight disappointment, the outside Alman fountain and gardens were beautiful, upside was that we were able to spend more time at the Hagia Sophia and the Topkapi Palace. The Topkapi Palace was another location in Matthew Reilly's 'The Tournament', it is set in parkland, which is a rare treat in a busy city of many million. The last Sultan was exiled from Turkey early last century, the buildings and the treasures remain. There are four museums in the palace complex, one houses Oriental Antiques - jewels and jewelled artefacts, found my next Mother's Day present, a 64 carat diamond. Another houses relics significant to Muslims - Moses staff, John's jewelled skull and arm, Abraham's saucepan, Joseph's turban, Muhammad's beard and footprint. In this museum the Koran is chanted 24 hours a day by clerics who have an hour shift. There is a clock exhibition - all the visitors to the Sultan seemed to give him clocks, Paul Keating would be in heaven. Every type of clock and clock maker has sighed their gifts, interestingly I did not notice the time they were showing. The last museum was housed in a Byzantine Church, the structure of the church is visible, alter and tabernacle are long gone, was some of the Sultan's armoury, this was filled with guns, swords, daggers, lances, shields, standards and armour. The quarters of the Haram was quiet and surrounded by gardens and walls. The next stop was the Hagia Sophia - a church that was built by Constantine, who built it to redeem himself after killing 5,000 rioters, who had burnt the first church. Lunch was provided at a traditional Turkish Kebab restaurant, salad, pide pizza and Chicken Kebab, rice and salad. Out came the iPads and all the table sent messages home, Edward was home, the girls were out. Next stop was the Grand Bazaar, this is place that needs a day or two to explore, we had an hour. It is a covered bazaar, the size of the plaza with laneways, vaults and tiny shops. Our Turkish Lira did not make it way back to the boat. Now back to the tour group, it seems we were the only authorised people in the van, this was determined on the way back to the ship, when payment was due. There are six very unhappy people tonight that have the same surname of the American couple. The American did try to clarify his name at the beginning, Jed was not Jeff etc, he was told O.K. Opps. Time to sleep it has been a long day the sun has set and Germany has won the soccer. TdF starts tomorrow and 10 AM, that's AM not PM ha! Tomorrow is a tender port at Mytilene, Nisos Lesbos. Good night.