More sightseeing in Istanbul

After having a good night’s sleep we woke up, ready to see more of Istanbul. Jamal unfortunately had nasty swellings around his eyes, probably as an allergic reaction to something he ate yesterday. Osama bought anti-histamines and his condition improved so that we managed to see the Hagia Sofia before lunch.

I owe Jamal a big apology after counting at least five sneezes without wishing him “sa77a”. Jamal: Before the whole wide world I say: sorry!

For lunch I badly wanted “Sfiha” (Turkish Pzza). You get swarmed by all kinds of restaurant people “ .. you American? You eeet best food here, come!...”. However “.. we don’t have Turkish pizza, you eeet borak, is much better..”. This went on for some time and at last I gave up.

After lunch, Topkapi was on the program. Magnificent! We pondered why the swords of the Khalifas Omar and Ali were much heavier than those of Abu Baker and Othman. Jamal kept insisting to go to the chambers reserved for the officials. Mybe he can enlighten us as to why in a later blog.

At 16:00 o’clock all the rally cars are to leave the hippodrome and head for Asia via ferry. If you are interested to know, why Petra Odyssey was the last team left on the place, please read our next blog.