For lunch, we wandered down Divan Yolu Street where all the tourists go. We passed the Lale Pudding Shop. Fans of the movie "Midnight Express" will appreciate that we did NOT eat there (the guidebooks say that drugs are no longer available for take-out).
Instead, we ate at the same franchise that we ate at the first day in the New District (called Semazen). It was cheap and delicious. We ate in the little park across the street. Little did we know we were also storing up some energy for a really long walk ahead of us.
Thus, we began the Rick Steves' "Old Town Back Streets Walk".This smokestack looking thing is called Çemberlitaş, or Burned Column. (Hard to see behind the scaffolding.) Emperor Constantine erected it to put a statue of himself on top. His statue was later replaced with a cross. Now it has nothing.
While we were here, we stopped by the bathhouse that we would be returning to tonight, Çemberlitaş Hamamı. No reservations needed, and they were open 'til midnight.
The walk took us to the Grand Bazaar. A bit like the Khan in Cairo, it was overwhelming and a little scary. There were swarms of touts everywhere. We didn't feel like doing any shopping with all that commotion around.
The directions in the Walk were pretty confusing at the Grand Bazaar and again on the way to the Süleyman Mosque. That was new for us. Usually the directions are excellent. We had to ask a local to point us in the right direction. The mosque was undergoing renovations. So, there weren't many tourists around, and it wasn't so easy to spot. Yeah, yeah, it's a huge building with towering minarets. But when you're right next to Istanbul University's high walls, you get tunnel vision.So, we finally found the mosque. You could only go inside the foyer a few dozen feet, and the rest was blocked off by construction curtains. I'm sure it would have been an impressive mosque to see.
The mosque has four minarets (to represent the four initial caliphs). Two are tall and two are short. The tall minarets have three balconies each. The short minarets have two balconies each.
In the courtyard was a little cemetery with several mausoleums, including one with Süleyman himself. To go inside, remove your shoes and cover your head.
These are tombs, sort of like sarcophagi.Süleyman is on the right and his two of his sons are on the left.
Odd side note: Süleyman strangled a couple of his kids, some at his wife's bidding.
Speaking of Süleyman's wife, this is Roxelana's mausoleum. She was first a slave and then a wife. (That was unheard of.) She was quite a schemer. Süleyman was madly in love with her.After we were done with the mosque, we continued to Walk to the Spice Bazaar. We got pretty lost. There were some tense moments, but we eventually got back on track.
The Spice Bazaar was a lot like the Grand Bazaar except dedicated to foodstuffs like spices, coffee, and tea. Locals call it Mışır Carşışı, which means Egyptian Bazaar. It was once funded by taxes paid by Egypt to the sultans. There was a line about a block long to buy coffee at one place.