Sightseeing Fails

Locating places

Sightseeing wasn’t a priority today as I had been to Istanbul many times.  I thought I’d locate a few places to smoothen the way for later:

• First up, I found the Eminonu bus stop for getting to the airport.  While I expected it be directly across the multi-lane road from where I had been dropped off, it shouldn’t be assumed.  As it turned out, it was a little further along than expected.
• Next, I located the Asur hotel where I would be staying during my third stopover here.
• Finally, I found the Sultanahmet bus stop for getting to the airport.  This would be a wiser point to embark as the bus originates here; it is highly likely to be full when it passes Eminonu.

Sightseeing fails

Having been here many times, I didn’t put much effort into planning my stay here of 2 full days or 3 nights.  I thought I’d take it easy by repeating some sights today and take on a new sight tomorrow.

I failed miserably:

• I got to the Sultanahmet (Blue) mosque just as it closed for midday prayers.
• Being Sunday, the Grand Bazaar was closed.
• For tomorrow, being Monday, Dolmabahce Palace would be closed.  Despite my numerous visits to this city, I had never been there.

The only sightseeing I did was the Sultanahmet Tomb which I had never seen before, near the Sultanahmet mosque.  Similarly I discovered the Sultan Tombs at Ayasofya only in recent years.  There were quite a few child coffins here, just like at the Sultan Tombs at Ayasofya.  I know in the latter, there had been murder involved but I’m not sure about here.