Istanbul day 2

So Monday Stephen was still pretty sore so Carol brought him in supplies for the day and the three of us headed off to the Blue Mosque, the Mosaic Museum, and the Aya Sofya. What incredible buildings and what a flood of humanity visiting both, especially the latter. There are people from the UK and all over Europe, the USA, China, Japan, Australia and who knows where else. It makes people watching from one of the thousands of cafes most entertaining. 

Small section of Aya Sofya

Interior of Blue Mosque

We were bailed up by a chap trying to "show us Turkish hospitality" (aka sell us a carpet or leather jacket) outside the Blue Mosque and we thought we had got rid of him but obviously weren't quite blunt enough as there he was sitting waiting for a second assault as we came out (quite some time later). Frank and Carol were very blunt with him this time and he finally left us alone, but not without following forlornly behind for a while as we made our way to the Mosaic Museum. You really need to be almost rude if you don't want to be hassled to death in Istanbul, which happily is not the case once you move out of the big cities. The restaurant touts in Istanbul were like those in Lygon street in Carlton only a hundred times worse!