Dubai 24, 25 October

We were sad to leave the exciting city of Istanbul and our lovely convenient apartment with it's great views. We managed to make it out to the airport without having the great taxi scam, maybe because our landlord saw us into the taxi. From Istanbul we went to Dubai for two nights and basically one whole day. It's all very glitzy, but we are not in a hurry to return.

We spent the whole day doing the two routes of the Big Bus, the hop on hop off bus.

The Dubai Creek.

There are a lot of buildings with interesting modern architecture.

There are hundreds of mosques, but they cannot be visited.

There are hundreds of fancy shopping malls where visiting is definitely encouraged. This one has an Italian theme.

The famous Burj Al Arab building.

Of course there are hundreds of fancy hotels.

The resort ones are in beautiful grounds.

One of the beaches.

These apartments are on The Palm, an artificial island shaped like a palm.

The only stop we made was at The Mall of Dubai. This is their Gold Souk.

They have an aquarium and an Olympic size ice skating rink.

Outside at the Dubai Fountains which are lit up and dance at night.

Back on the bus we see a bit of Greece...

and a bit of Egypt. These are shops.

A Tea House.

The Dubai Museum. Didn't have time to stop here, but it could have been quite interesting.

Women of Dubai.

Men of Dubai.

Last day in Istanbul

The last day was a time to wander once again to some of our favourite spots in this wonderful city and also to go to the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

We were a block or so from the Hippodrome so we often wandered along it. It was the Roman chariot racetrack and is now a long narrow square with quite a few of Istanbul's famous sights, like the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque facing it. This is an Egyptian Obelisk carved about 1500 BC. Amazing to see the clarity of the hieroglyphs after all this time.

The Column of Constantine. It was originally sheeted with bronze panels, but these were pulled down to make weapons during the 4th crusade.

We decided another look inside the Blue Mosque was a must.

The inner courtyard is surrounded by a portico, with the fountain once used for ablutions.

The inside is beautiful, vast and intensely decorated with more than 20,000 rich, mainly blue, ceramic tiles. As in many of the mosques we saw, the lights are the low hanging chandeliers which were once designed for oil lamps with floating wicks raised and lowered to enable people to tend to the lamps. Now they hold electric bulbs.

A close up of one of the giant "elephant feet" pillars that support the arches, dome and semi-domes and cupolas. They are decorated with fluted marble panels.

Some of the beautiful stain glass windows and on top of the pillar, some decorative calligraphy.

The huge dome is nothing short of stunning.

Next we went through Gulhane Park to the Archaeolgical Museum.

The Museum of Archaeology is divided into three parts. These steps lead up to Museum of Archaeology.

There is a marvellous collection of sarcophagi and the star exhibit is the Alexander Sarcophagus.

This model gives an idea of how colourful it would originally have been.

Part of the impressive chain the Byzantines pulled across the mouth of the Golden Horn to block enemy fleets.

A caryatid dressed in a traditional gown.

The Tiled Kiosk Museum displaying tiles, and ceramics. (The Turks consider them all "tiles".)

The entry.

These are 16th century Iznik ceramic lamps used in mosques. They burnt oil and were hung by the handles.

A beautiful fountain.

We bought a reproduction plate similar to this one. They were produced from the mid 16th century.

Dated from AD 1500, this is one of the finest surviving pieces of Iznik tiles.

A 1430 glazed prayer niche bought from Konya.

The third museum is the Museum of the Ancient Orient. There is a great collection of tiled friezes which decorated the gate of the ancient city of Babylon. There are lions like this one, bulls and dragons.

The Mosque of Suleyman the Magificent

The next day we went back to the Grand Bazaar to buy a pile of souvenirs and after lunch we went to the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent.

Outside the huge Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent, completed in 1557.

In the cemetery you find the large Mausoleum of Suleyman and also the smaller Mausoleum of Roxelana his wife.

The headstones in the cemetery each have two stones, the larger stone was inscribed with the epitaph and the smaller was for decoration.

The outer courtyard, including an ablution area.

The inner courtyard. The domed porticos look decorative, but they are also functional, providing shade in summer and shelter in winter. The old marble fountain was used for ablution - ritual cleansing before worship.

Looking through to the outer courtyard.

Tiles over the doorway.

Inside the mosque is huge, peaceful, elegant and very beautiful.

The impressive dome is 90 feet in diameter.

One of the lovely stained glass windows.

View of the Bosphorus from the Mosque's garden.

A Turkish Tea Garden.

Lots of people with their nargile, otherwise known as as a water pipe, hubbly-bubbly, etc.