Eyüp
Basing on Menteen's high recommendations, I set to explore Eyüp, which is more accurately pronounced (Ay-eup), armed with my trusted map and some pocket money, I rode the tram to Eminönü station, from where i was supposed to ride the zigzaggy, boat ride to Eyüp.
Surfing through the Bosphorus is an experience to savour, the views on both sides are amazing, and the great thing is that you can pinpoint the places you haven't been to in your travel planner. Anyho, the trip took approximately 30 minutes, and you know what’s cool, the boat, aside from tourists, is actually a transportation channel for locals between the two sides of the Bosphorus, i mean come-on, its only 1.5 TL (and that’s cheap!).
Eyüp is basically conservative Istanbul; you notice that directly after crossing the street, no one is trying to ram Turkish rugs down your throat, or some overly-expensive goat leather jackets, which is always a welcomed change. The "area" of Eyüp is kind of split in two, the coast, and the mountain area, to which you can either walk (it’s exhausting), OR, take the much easier route; telefreak (cable car), it'll only take you like two minutes, and again, very cheap.
Let me add something here, I love how they are clever enough to match the tokens you use for the metro, with the ones you use for the tram, and with also the ones you use for the telefreak! (But sadly not the bus).
Anyho, up in the mountains and i was like "Take my breath awayyyy, ayyyy, ayyyy", you know the song... Breath-taking views (see picture above), which you can enjoy with what else, a glass of Turkish apple tea.
Chora Church
According to my guide, this church is a regularly forgotten part of Istanbul, and I could understand why! To actually find it I had to walk for over 2.5 hours within the old conservative part, and that was the fun in itself, you know how they say it’s the journey that counts, here it is literally true, this is the part of Istanbul you don't get to see, people are so nice as well, I must have asked for directions a million and one times, and by the time I reached the Church, I had no power in me for a 2-hour plus exploration.
The church is convenient in that way, it only took me 45 minutes to check it out, since it is quite small, but the mosaics are to savour, i love the one by Jesus holding an infant, which according to my guide book, is actually Mary's Soul!
Coming out of the church, you can have a lovely toast and cheese with some tea in the opposite restaurant.
The Evening
Being extremely tired of all the walking, i had only a couple of hours for an outing in the evening, I could not do the Spice Bazaar since it was closed by then, so I went to Taksim again, and hidden at the end of street, is a gem of all restaurants (can't recall its name), were surprisingly, Turkish cuisine is not its best, nevertheless, the dishes it served sure made its way to my heart & appetite.
I cannot miss walking in front of the Blue Mosque and not sit down and stare, there is something about it that is just mesmerizing. You know once I read someplace that to meditate you need to focus on something but not focus at the same time, like stare at the stocks ticker on the bottom of a TV channel but not follow its contents, a sort of a blind stare, this is exactly what the mosque does to me, you do not think, you just stare...
Sigh! Am going to miss it...
Am done for tonight, Night,
Love
Ahmad
