The weather has been just a little cooler and very pleasant. We wake up with a call to prayer at 5:45 a.m. We started the day with a lecture by a local professor. She told us about the urban development of this city through the years Very Good. Took a bus through the more conservative part of the city. Saw many burkahs. On one street (several blocks on both sides of the street) we saw wedding dresses in the windows --all strapless with skirts of fur, feathers, sequins, lace, etc. Saw women in burkahs looking at the wedding dresses - what a contrast. It was the first day of school so saw many mothers taking and picking up their children. Lunch was at a restaurant where we sat outside on a vine covered terrace - very nice- featuring Ottoman food. Visited the Church of Chora next door which had been a Christian church with many lovely mosaics of Bible scenes on the wall which were then covered with white paint when the building was a mosque. Then spent the afternoon at Topkapi Palace, set along the Bosphorus in a 3 mile by 2 mile campus--several buildings which were occupied from 1453 until 1823. Saw many thrones (elaborately decorated), many jewels, the spoils of war, the harem,the gardens etc. Had dinner on the roof terrace of this lovely hotel--could see the Bosphorus in one direction and the Blue Mosque in the other. Now it is time to go to breakfast--the most unusual of the trip featuring dried fruits, olives, veggies, fruit leather, nuts, yogurts, breads, cheeses, etc.
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