Hotel Booked

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Istanbul - Moda

We booked our hotel for the first 2 weeks of our stay.  We have a King room with a view of the Marmara Sea!  It is a 10 minute drive to Ben's new office.  Cindy's job in this first 2 weeks is to find an apartment.  Meanwhile, our hotel is right by the Kadikoy Ferry dock on the Asian side of Istanbul.  This should allow us to walk to the ferry and go tour the European side on the weekend.  Which should we go see first?  Hagia Sofia - Constantinople's Great Church, later converted to an Ottoman mosque, and now a museum.  OR, Blue Mosque - Ahmet's 17th century response to Hagia Sophia, named for its brightly colored tiles.  OR, Topkapi Palace - Storied residence of the sultans, with endless museum exhibits, astonishing artifacts, and the famous Harem.  We can hardly wait!

On a side note, we have changed the settings on our blog to accept comments from anyone, even if you don't join.  It might take a day or two for your post to appear.