Cisterns and Mosques...

We have a few minutes before getting on the bus for Cappadocia, so I'll post a few notes about today.

Fantastic breakfast=late start. I'm very fond of the way they do breakfast in this country--lots of little tastes. Simple things well prepared. Today I even ate some raw honey comb. But once we did get moving we hit the streets pretty hard--walking several km in the process.

The first stop was a mosaic museum with pieces of the floor from the old palace (6th Century). The restoration project was a very big deal and as much on display as the actual mosaics.

Next we saw the former Church of SS. Sergius and Bacchus, now a Mosque. It's known as "Little Hagia Sophia" because of the shared floor plan. Back a few hundred years ago, Latin (Roman Catholic Clergy) were allowed to celebrate Mass in this otherwise Orthodox Church thanks to an obscure connection this place had to the West.

The Mosque Sexton (not sure his real title) spoke basically no English. But because we lingered more than most tourists in this quiet mosque (and perhaps because I put a health donation in the box and Betsy showed proper etiquette by covering her hair) he motioned me to follow him. When I did, he pulled back a piece of the carpet to reveal a large panel of glass floor--through that you could see some of the original mosaic (?) floor of the church.

Outside we refreshed ourselves in a quiet, shaded tea garden. A lady next to us tried to communicate, but she had absolutely no English, so we didn't get much further than relating that we are from Canada and are married.

Constantine's Column was a bit disappointing--it's completely covered by scaffolding as part of a restoration project. So we went ahead to the Binbirderik Cistern. Unlike the Basilica Cistern we saw yesterday, this one is drained and less dominating by tourist traffic. They did have some nice architectural models of important Byzantine structures, most of which have little remaining.

Next we feasted on Kebabs and a well-regarded place. We are quickly learning how to make sense of the food and drink culture around here! Now we'll be heading on a night bus out East. Not sure what kind of Internet Access we'll find!

-t