Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque

Everyone who comes to visit Istanbul visits both Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and so did I.

For some reason I am always getting a late start during my travels but I did get my butt out of bed early to visit Hagia Sophia when it opened.

There were very few people inside. It was quite nice. It would have been perfect if it wasn’t for all the restoration work being done. I have watched some documentaries on the building so the repair work is probably needed for the longevity of the building.

Hagia Sophia (AyaSofya) started as a Greek Orthodox Church when Istanbul was Constantinople.

Over the years it had much damage and many repairs.

When the Ottomans took over Constantinople the Hagia Sophia became a mosque; this is when the minarets and other mosque distinct features were added.

For now the building serves as a museum and that it is good for us so we can see how spectacular it is inside.

After my visit to Hagia Sophia I visited the sultan tombs that were off to the side of the building. I pretty much had them to myself and enjoyed the domes of all the buildings.

Blue Mosque

Everyone says to visit the Blue Mosque, which is close by. There are limited times to visit since it is an active mosque. I went on a Friday where it is closed for many hours for prayer. However I got luckily and found a window where it was still open for visitors.

Most of the Blue Mosque was obstructed by restoration work. I did get a photo or two of the very fabulous exposed pieces. I suppose I will have to go back to visit when the work is complete.

What I also liked about the Blue Mosque is that they have an instructional board outside that tells you all about Islam. I found it very educational.

Hopefully some day I’ll be back.

Arrived in Istanbul

The “European” part of my travels are over, well sort of, I am in Istanbul now and technically this part of Turkey is the European side.

So confusing. How do I even categorize this post? Europe, Asia, and Middle East? Is Turkey considered part of Middle East? I only ask this publicly because those are the questions I asked when I was visiting. I am not exactly a complete idiot so I figure there are other average people who don’t know this for sure as well. Turkey technically straddles both Europe and Asia but it is also considered part of the Middle East. That is the quick explanation in case you were wondering.

I have had Turkey on my travel list for a little while but for some reason I always ended up going elsewhere on trips.

I decided that this sabbatical was a perfect time to finally visit.

My start and ending is in Istanbul. For the first part of the stay I decided to stay in the sultanahmet part of town. It is where many of the tourist and historic areas are located. This part of the trip is 5 nights.

My first impressions is I find Istanbul challenging. I am not used to the male attention (yes I am dressed conservatively … at least initially but then when I realized men treated me the same no matter what I wore I started wearing shorts out for comfort to sight see … but not in mosques). Also vendors, and carpet salesmen in particular, are very pushy. I experienced pushiness in India but I never had a salesperson physically grab me and pull me into their store in India. This scenario happened in Istanbul.

What was also similar to India was the male attention. I had men catcall me, stare at my chest, and pretty much 80% of my waiters asked me on a date in some form or another. All I did was be nice and make small talk; nothing to invite the attention. It is a cultural shock since back home I get about zero male attention these days.

Despite the unwanted male advances, I did like my time sightseeing around town. Even though I sometimes wanted a late start, the days were better when I woke up early to go out sightseeing and then back to my hotel for an afternoon siesta. It is hot and a mid-day break in the AC is nice.

Also for people not familiar with cities that are predominately Islamic, you will hear the call to prayer multiple times a day (5 I think) and some are early in the morning. They can be pretty loud so don’t be startled when it happens.

My first meal in Turkey, some sort of lamb stew, and yes this waiter did ask me out.

I take it easy my first day and try to get my bearings in a the nearby area. I’ll post later about some of cool things I see.

I’m on a boat: Lisbon Style

A couple of weeks earlier I saw a fun party boat on the Tagus river in Lisbon. I put it on the maybe to do list when I return to Lisbon in a couple more days.

A couple of days after I did take that boat for a ride.

I attended a sunset cruise. During the cruise there is commentary in multiple languages and supposedly a welcome glass of wine (it ended up being more than one glass – partially because I kept spilling mine and I blame the wind for that, um yes wind).

It is here that I finally broke out of my anxiety shell and chatted with other tourists. As a solo traveler who is also an introvert, it is very easy to let days go without real human connection.

It was a beautiful evening to cruise along and watch the sunset. I am very glad I booked the boat ride.

More Lisbon exploring

Some photos from wandering around town.

Finally rode the famous tram 28 at night. It was cool out and the line was short. It was a perfect time to ride.

Loved this park under the tree. I chilled here a little while with the free internet.

Dealing with the bad hair days

Sometimes normal life things don’t get put on hold for travel. I paint myself as a low maintenance person but partly because I am lucky and normally have hair that behaves with little effort. For the past couple weeks I have struggled with my hair. My normal shiney and nice hair (one of my good physical features) has been tangled and raggy mess. No haircut in 7 months and using whatever shampoo is lying around gets the blame for my hair being a wreck, not to mention bad water.

Since I am low maintenance I would not complain but I COULDN’T EVEN REALLY PUT A BRUSH through it without pulling out gobs of hair.

I need a haircut but I am in Portugal. I run a google search and find a place one subway stop away that has decent reviews from tourists that stopped in.

My stylist speaks no English and I no Portuguese. I learn the word for cut (Corte) and mimic cutting my ends and then say lavar (which I think is Spanish for wash) and she gets it and takes me to the sink to shampoo. I decide asking for layers and thinning my hair out is way too complex to translate and could lead to very bad results if misunderstood.

While she is combing out my rats nest I get out my google translate to try to make jokes about my hair. Split ends doesn’t translate but bad hair does. She smiles. I broke the language barrier. She asks me a couple questions I don’t understand at first but we eventually figure it all out.

Now my hair is freshly trimmed.

She blow dries it straight which I don’t love. After my next shower I feel the difference. My good hair is back for now.

I also broke down and bought some argan oil. It is in a glass container and is more weight for my pack but I didn’t bring a ton of other beauty products so this will be my one sacrifice (until I get tired of carrying it!)

Yea for good hair again.