Bob liked this painting so I snuck a snapshot of it.
Many museums charge a photography fee and almost all forbid flash photography.
04 November - Sunday
Originally we were going to do a side trip to Bursa with Bob. However, the weather report said a 70% chance of rain, so we decided to not go as who wants to be on a catamaran in stormy conditions. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. We walked down to the Naval museum.
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| A bargain attraction. Most tourist spots run about 10 Lira. ($8) |
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| Sea Battle at Cesme by Husnu Tenguz (1876-1950) Bob liked this painting so I snuck a snapshot of it. Many museums charge a photography fee and almost all forbid flash photography. |
Took the ferry over to the Asian side of Istanbul.
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| Had dessert and came back. |
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| We actually only had baclava and tea here but the rest of the menu looked good |
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| Ferries |
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| Earl and Bob on the Bosphorus |
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Dinner was back at the Isembe restaurant, they looked really happy to see us again.
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05 November - Monday
My birthday. It rained. Originally thought we might go to Ephesus for my bday but Earl didn’t want to do a big trip the day before we leave Istanbul so the decided to go to Bursa with Bob instead on Sunday as it was Bob’s last day in Istanbul. That didn’t happen either. So we just took a leisurely walk down Istanbul’s pedestrian shopping street (Istiklal Caddesi) and had tea and dessert at the famous Saray Muhallebicisi. Stared at the fish market.
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| Stall after stall of fishes |
Walked through the 18th century arcade of Mirrors during which Earl found a stamp store. Turns out the manager of the show was there so we stayed for tea and coffee. Left to visit the new Pera Art Museum but found it closed on Mondays. Had an early dinner at the fish market. Earl didn’t know how to respond to all the guys asking us to eat at their various restaurants, but he finally settled on one. We had a nice meal of smoked mackerel appetizer, salad (unwanted but provided nonetheless), lightly fried sardines and fried bluefish.
06 November - Tuesday - Up at 5am. Its raining so we forgo taking the Havas Airport bus for 6 lira each. Earl doesn’t want to slog his suitcase through puddles so he ordered a cab to the airport. Another 50 Lira down the drain. Uneventful plane trip home. Watched four movies onboard the plane from London to Miami-- “You Kill Me” a dark comedy starring Ben Kingsley, “Nancy Drew”, “Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer” and some inane romantic comedy -- a new record for me. We got back to Miami at 7pm (2 am Istanbul time) and went promptly to sleep.