We got very little sleep last night as the car park turned into a meeting place for friends and couples who talked and laughed loudly until about 4am! We can’t complain because as far as they’re concerned, they’ve come out of the way into the middle of nowhere to meet and have a laugh. We just happened to be in their car park.
A bit zombified this morning though. Dragged ourselves up the road to Istanbul with a ‘warm up’ parking challenge for Guy.
We decided to visit the Grand Çamlica Mosque in the Üsküdar district, which is on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. All looked quite straight forward until we missed one turning – not something you want to do in Istanbul! Managed to get back on track quickly though and Guy squeezed through the gates of the tiny car park opposite the mosque.
I do think the Çamlica mosque is Erdoğan’s vanity project, it being the largest mosque in Türkiye. There’s no doubt that it’s a very imposing, beautiful building, but it must have cost millions! As it’s on a hill, it can be seen from far and wide, although it still has a bit of the community feel about it. The green areas outside especially are full of families – no rubbish here though.
The marble and white travertine is absolutely blinding in the sunlight with very little shade. We mis-timed our visit as prayers were just starting. As I followed Guy into the main area, I got swiftly filtered off to the side with the women and children. I love how the men have the whole mosque to pray in and the women are in the equivalent of a dressing room! It holds thousands though, so room for everyone.
Back outside and starving, we finally succumbed and tried one of the sesame seed donut things with Nutella in. Good job I’ve discovered these divine snacks on the way out of Türkiye, not on the way in!
Next, the drive across the Bosporus and back in to Europe. Such a shame that the morning mist seemed to have turned in to afternoon smog – the views would have been amazing.
The motorhome parking which we’ve used before has become our nemesis…it’s perfectly situated for all the main sights but boy is it difficult to get to. After a couple of wrong turns and about two hours in traffic, we got pulled over by the police. We were told to wait ten minutes with a couple of other large vehicles. We have no idea why, other than it might have been a vain attempt to ease the traffic. One more kilometre and we were in – phew!
Had a walk up to the Sultanahmet area, where all the main attractions are. Some of the back streets along the way are a bit of an eye opener! Think we’ll see Hagia Sophia tomorrow – we’ve seen quite a lot of the other stuff on a previous visit. Six miles has about floored us after a week of not much exercise and running the restaurant gauntlet on the way back seemed never ending.
