Off to Istanbul

The call to prayer became our call to driving. We headed out early for Istanbul. It was an easy drive- taking the ferry cut off about 100 km and the driving was generally easy except for the last few hours in Monday morning Istanbul rush hour traffic. We managed to make a few stops before heading to the hotel.

We stopped at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. The Patriarchate has been on the site since 1601 and it was hard to believe that this very simple church is (or was) the center of the entire Orthodox Church. They actually had a service in progress with the Patriarch, Demetrios – no parishioners, but the service went on.
Martin and Christine made it in about 12:00 and they were ready to go. We grabbed a taxi to Ortokoy and had lunch by the Bosphorus.

We spent a bit of time walking around Istanbul before stopping for drinks at the rooftop terrace at Rami, across from the Blue Mosque. We had an early dinner and sent the jet-lagged duo back to the hotel.

The hotel was spectacular. Set against the walls of Topkapi Palace, it’s a row of old 19th Century Ottoman houses that have been renovated and filled with antiques.