Walk to the Spice Bazaar.

I woke up late again and slowly got myself presentable for the outside world. My mission for the day was make it to Hagia Sofia, and possibly go shopping. Since the apartment was right on Taksim, the walk to the Church/Mosque/Museum would be very pleasant! I decided to go for it, and I'm happy I did!



I passed Galata Tower (above), walked down the big main street in Taksim, and sat to watch fishermen while I enjoyed fresh juice from a street stand.





I walked across the bridge...




And made it to Hagia Sofia!






It is now a museum, so you can see some of the restored old Christian mosaics right around some big Muslim symbols. It has a lot of interesting history that I could read in the builing, and it was bigger on the inside than I could accurately show with my pictures. After Hagia Sofia I walked around and found a couple interesting things...




I walked into an art studio. There was this late middle aged man sitting painting, and he offered me tea while I looked through some prints. He offered to let me go paint in a room and receive instruction on technique, but I had a feeling this might be expensive so I said no. There was a French girl in there sketching some garlic cloves too. After looking around at this free gallery I found the Spice Bazaar



This place was not nearly as confusing as the Grand Bazaar. The confusion started once I left the covered part and went exploring the surrounding area. There was a labyrinth of mud pathways branching out selling all sorts of stuff. Everything I could think of buying was there it seemed. It was divided into districts. I would walk down one path full of kitchen utensils, and then turn down another and it was all underwear and pajamas. It was crazy.

I was kind of overwhelmed by choice at this point, so I didn't really end up buying anything.

Instead it was time to walk up the hill on the journey back to the house. It was dark so I got to see things lit up again which was nice! I stopped by to see a couple hostels because I was going to be in one for a couple days :)

I walked and walked. I stopped in a couple more stores on the way up, and eventually made it to the house. Here I parked my butt since I had been walking all day. I chilled out at the house for the rest of the evening I think :)