Istanbul, Day Three (or, going further afield)

So far, Brandon and I have contained our wanderings to places less than half a mile from our hotel.  Which is, of course, why we booked a hotel in this location - because it's close to a lot of things.  But, by the third day we'd covered most of what there is to cover around, and so we had to leave.

So we started our day with a Bosphorous cruise.  We intended to take a full cruise, but after some confusion combined with a late breakfast, we missed the 10:30 start time and took a short cruise instead.  And yes, Tammy and Alvin, I went on the cruise, too.  Here's the picture to prove it:

This picture is for my Uncle Mark and cousin Scott:

Having a lot more time than we anticipated, we started wandering.  First we went to the Spice Bazaar, which was completely underwhelming.  So then we visited the pet market.  Brandon and I debated whether the following were for pets or food.

 We knew these weren't for either.  Evidently, according to what Turkish we could figure out from the signs above the jugs, they are for healing a variety of maladies, including migraine and eczema.  And they were everywhere.

Having exhausted the possibilities of the pet market (there were quite beautiful exotic birds that would have been confiscated faster than we could think if we tried to take them to the US), we decided to try the calligraphy museum.  It was closed.  So instead we went to the Sulimanyet mosque, which wasn't.  On the way back, we thought we could hear the strains of 'tuppence a bag.'  In Turkish, of course.

We had a nice dinner and afterwards watched Brazilian capoeira dancers, had Turkish ice cream, and listened to "When the Saints Go Marching In" on one of the busy pedestrian streets.  We came home just in time for the call to prayer, and this lovely view out of our room window.

And now time for bed.