Some nice tourists from Winnipeg took this picture. They got my attention, only to quickly say “It’s OK - we’re not asking you to buy anything!”. A visit to this area is not complete without someone asking you to buy a carpet. I decided not to tell the touts that we just got fabulous new high-quality carpets from Costco....
We took the ferry to Üsküdar, just to take a ferry. It was lovely, except for the length - the trip was only 10 minutes each way. On the other end, we ran into a huge festival full of politicians shouting their promises. Apparently they do that in all countries - though I’ve never seen a festival quite like this in the U.S.
Istanbul is full of mosques, which give it so much color, from the prayers on the loudspeakers to the city silhouette.
It turns out we were visiting Istanbul in the middle of Ramadan, the month when many Muslims fast during the day. It took us a couple days to figure out why the restaurants were so empty - except at night. After sunset, many restaurants had special large set-meals, and were packed. On nice nights (like this one) many families also take picnics, so the green spaces were packed.
There was a special Ramadan message and colored fountains at Hagia Sofia.
Then it was time for Wendy and I to take the metro back to the airport for our 2 am flight to Cape Town. We lucked out - our flight was less than half full. I could hardly figure out what to do first - play with the entertainment system, wait for the yummy dinner, write my blog, read my own book, or try to sleep. Wendy had a whole row of 4 seats - I only got two! Before we knew it, we’d flown over almost all of Africa, and were landing in Cape Town.
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