We continued walking through the Hagia Sophia and listening to some of its history. It is a bit sad that since becoming a mosque art work and frescos have been stolen or destroyed by the public. It has left the inside looking a bit shabby and the remaining pieces have been put behind glass to protect them. The Hagia Sophia is still an impressive place though and we enjoyed our visit.
We finally managed to visit the inside of the Hagia Sophia and because it is now an active muslim mosque the ladies had to have their heads covered. This annoyed SV as she did not appreciate the subjugation of the patriarchy in enforcing her to wear a head covering while boys were allowed to run around unchecked. Her sense of justice was rightfully upset. KT on the other hand was excited for the visit and celebrated by going all jeans. Once inside the huge mosque/church we admired the size and decorations from the upstairs balcony. Turned out that was the only place the general public is allowed and only practicing muslims are allowed on the ground floor.
We hopped on the metro and made our way into the more modern parts of Istanbul. We were catching up with Uncle Chris again briefly and then we went to a shopping centre to pick up a few things before we go on the road. The shopping centre was interesting in that it was very much like any other we're used to, although one of the shops we first saw in Morocco was there too.
As the sun began to set we crossed the Bosphorus from Asia back into Europe like people have done for millennia. It was really pleasant and TV took some portraits of everyone as we sailed across.
We walked along the foreshore to a little park right on the water. There were heaps of cats lounging around and the kids enjoyed jumping on the rocks. The park was quite good too with lots of climbing to be done. As it started to sprinkle we decided to walk back to the ferry via a slightly different route. We stopped at a few shops along the way and MV got a new friend named Glumpy, a stuffed animal cat.
We walked through the neighbourhood until we reached the other side of the penninsula to Moda Iskelesi. This building was interesting because it has been there at the end of the dock for a long time and has had many uses including restaurant, cafe and library. It also has a ferry ticket booth since ferries dock at the pier to take visitors to several other destinations. We really enjoyed our walk and ending up on the pier was pretty nice. Also being able to touch the Sea of Marmara was cool.
We caught the metro to the Kadıköy neighbourhood which is on the Asian side of Istanbul. We walked up from the waterfront and up into some of the streets which had market stalls. There were heaps of restaurants, one of which we stopped for lunch. We also visited a comic book and anime shop where the older two girls picked out some books while EV made a friend. She also really enjoyed jumping from the raised window sill.
