First stop after the usual breakfast thing and finding some fresh orange juice, was The Cistern. Sounds exciting I know. After breakfast I check out the thing on top of the toilet. Not unusual for a regular fellow like me I can assure you, but no, not that cistern. An underground water storage facility built during the reign of the Emperor Justinian. So that's pretty old. I don't know why they say it was built by Justinian. A Roman emperor is hardly going to be a brickie's labourer on the side (from what you read they might have had the odd brickie's labourer on the side - but that's another story and this is a family blog). We don't even know if Justinian even asked for a big cistern, or if he even checked it out, or if he was regular in his bowel motions after breakfast. We just know it was built while he reigned and stored fresh water. Now it has about a foot and a half of water in it and a lot of fish. It is like a huge underground cathedral, about the size of the MCG. It is really quite an impressive sight and experience, under the ground in this cavernous but clearly man-made structure.
After that the Grand Bazaar. Pretty big bazaar, in fact the biggest undercover bazaar in the something (Istanbul, Turkey. the Middle East, the World??????) I can't remember and it wasn't that impressive.
After all, a bunch of folk pestering you until you buy something or manage to get away from them. A bit like taking a large family with you to the supermarket really. Most of it was modern manufactured crap anyway. Fake adidas, fake nike, fake fakes. Some interesting stuff though and I considered getting Connor a fake pretend magic lamp, but I didn't.
Then out the other side of the bazaar and to the university. Nice gate.
Past the Old Bazaar on the way back, much more interesting looking but dark and full of dead ends. You could hear the wild call of the lost American bargain hunter as it became separated from its herd and called for its loyal mate. (Named Abner, don't ask me why).
Had a fresh anchovy roll with lettuce on the way back. Good stuff.
Next was down to the Egyptian spice bazaar via the Asoras Bazaar. The Spice bazaar was much more interesting. Lots of stalls wirth spices and lollies as well as the usual souvenir junk and bargain junk.
There were also many animal stalls, mostly pets as they sold pet food with the animals, unless that was stuffing of course. I even saw leeches for sale. Not something you see every day. Usually you have to breed your own.
Bought some dates, much nicer than the Palestinian ones which were dry and stringy. Also had some turkish delight. |A normal rosewater one which was delicious and a coconut milk one which was deliciouser even. Had an ice cream when I had walked back up to hotel level. turkish ice cream, very nice, different flavours in the one cone. Fruity fruits, chocolatey chocolate, vanillary vanilla - you get the picture. getting pretty full by now, but still have the turkish rice pudding delicacy to try.
Tomorrow I have to be a t the airport for my flight and have to leave a bit early to get the best transfer. Trouble is the breakfast doesn't start early enough. This afternoon has seen a real time-consuming battle between "anally retentive don't want to be late" Russell and "super tight can't miss a free meal"' Russell. Fortunately "problem solving" Russell has found a way to achieve both aims, but he is a bit worried about his various psychoses, especially the "referring to himselves in the third person" one.
Just don't develop any more Russells before you get back!
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