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Today is officially the first day of the tour . Our tour guide's name is Omer. He is Turkish and is an absolute font of information. the coach driver is Torgay and even though we have 38 people in the group the bus is very spacious and comfortable. We are going by bus to the old town firstly to Topkapi Palace. It's a beautiful day and will warm up quite a bit I think. The Palace is huge surrounded by a fortified wall. It's not like the Dolmabahce palace it is more of a museum of collections of jewels, weapons and clothing from the 15th Century. We have time to wander around on our own with a designated meeting time and place.
Here we are first day, first instructions of Time and meeting and we have lost 1 person already!
We move on to the Blue Mosque as a group minus 1.
The Blue Mosque was built by Sultan Ahmet 1 in 1606. He was 14 yo when he became Sultan and was 21 when he donated the money and helped to build the mosque. It took just 7 years to build but the Sultan died the same year as it was completed. He was 28. The building and its inside is very well preserved. The painting was redone 30 years ago but the tiles are all still original. It's an amazingly beautiful building.
We are left to find our own lunch and meet again to go by bus to the Grand Bazaar. We have 90 minutes in the Grand Bazaar which for us is fine as we have been there in the past couple of days.
From here we taking a cruise on the Bosphorus. This stretch of water goes between the European Turkey and Asian Turkey. You get a whole different view and perspective from the water. Many very impressive homes, palaces and Mosques.
It's been a busy day so back to the hotel for a bath before going to find some dinner. On the move tomorrow going to Gallipoli in the afternoon.
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