istanbul photos

as promised I dug up some photos from Istanbul- we had really good weather for late December and were able one day to spend the day on the Bosphorus- a beautiful cruise up the straits- 

some of the things I really liked were - of course the Grand Bazaar and the Topkapi Palace but also the Cistern Basilica was waaay cool-

anyway- on to the photos- first the Cistern Basilica-

then the bazaar-

a view of Hagia Sophia from the Blue Mosque-

inside Topkapi Palace-

inside the Blue Mosque-

inside Hagia Sophia -

on the Bosphorus

a lovely museum with incredible relics- housed in a part of a former palace (detail of tile work below)

we also had a lot of fresh seafood and fish the last time we were there so we are looking forward to the food on this very short return trip-