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We arrived early in Istanbul and ventured to find our hostel. We met another person on a train. This time it was a guy From New Zealand. He decided to follow us since he had no hostel. We were able to find the hostel relatively easy. It was smack dab in the middle of all the historical sites in Istanbul. We checked in and decided to follow an itinerary I downloaded from the internet. Our first stop was the Basilica Cistern which was a were they used to store the cities water supply. It was constructed during the 6th century and had rows and rows of columns supporting the underground resevoir. Our next stop was the Hagia Sofia, which is a converted mosque from the 6th century. Originally it was a church but when the Ottoman Empire came into power it was converted into a mosque. For lunch we had an overpriced doner sandwich. We were sitting in between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia, so I guess it makes sense. There were a ton of tourists around, mainly Western Europe but also a large portion from Asia. After our decent lunch we went skipped the Blue Mosque, it was closed due to prayer, and went to the largest indoor bazaar in the world. There was everything there! They had fake Rolex's, fake Nike's, jewelery, suits, you name it. We could have spent much more time there but we decided to go back to the Blue Mosque. Once inside there wasn't a lot to do except stare at its size and beauty. The rooftop was very intricut and almost as massive as the Sofia. The whole area around it was very well landscaped. On our way out we also got interviewed by some young coeds doing a project. Apparently we might end up on Turkish TV. After a full day we decided to relax for a while on the rooftop of our hostel and watch the ships coming in from the mediterranean. We met another girl from Canada and our trip to find food turned into a trip to find nightlife. We ended up in Taksim Square. This was a Thursday night and the amount of people coming down the street was unbelievable. We had a few drinks and decided to call it a night.
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