Empress Zoe Hotel

Map to the Empress ...

... get there and lots of little streets to find our hotel but the driver made it!   Barb had made arrangements to stay at the Empress Zoe hotel that Matt Lauer had mentioned during his segment on Turkey.  The hotel is quite quaint!  You  have to go up a ...

... After a week spent fending for ourselves in faraway lands (Bulgaria, Ireland, Romania, etc.) we made it to the Empress Zoe Hotel overlooking the Marmara Sea. First impressions? The locals were overly helpful, fish sandwiches from the dock aren't bad, ...

... back to "Tunel", then the tram. Back at the hostel, Murray has a rest, and Dianne goes for a walk to find the "Empress Zoe" hotel, which is very boutiquey.  Whole area has been restored with tourists in mind. Photo of Four Seasons Hotel, which used ...

... . There are a number of beautiful mosaics in various stages of repair. The most stunning of these include that of the 11th century Empress Zoe seated next to Christ. On the left hand side of the picture is her husband. Which husband is a matter of some ...

... Constantinople and on the left Justinian I holding a model Hagia Sophia. We saw the Apse mosaic, Comnenus mosaic, Emperor Alexander and Empress Zoe mosaics as we had walked around- all on a similar theme of the Virgin or Jesus Pantocrator.    ...

Having survived seveal harrowing taxi rides, Istanbul is more than I ever expected. Yesterday on arrival at the Hotel Empress Zoe (beyond perfect) we walked to the ferry. Took an around about route, about three miles. Saw men fishing the Bosphorus ...

... of being splayed across my couch like a lump? I might just do the whole ritual from the rooftop patio of the Hotel Empress Zoe... looking out over Istanbul (not Constantinople). Really, that doesn't sound so bad when I think about it. ;) One more ...

... tile work I have ever seen!!!!!  The pictures just don't do it justice.   From there, we found the back way to the hotel and finally stopped at a restaurant next to the hotel for some mezes.  Now it was time to pack as tomorrow I have to leave for ...

This morning we had breakfast at the hotel with lots of coffee!  We were to meet our tour guide in the lobby and she was going to take us around to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia plus a few other places in between.  Fergun(Fergie from here on out) ...

... and then headed to the famed Summer Palace 13km NE of the forbidden city. This was the summer residence of the emperor and empress when the city became unbearably hot. The palace and temples here were not as formulaic or as symmetrically placed as the ...

... was not, we had stumbled on the Meiji Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the divine souls of the emperor and his consort empress shoken. They had both passed away by 1914 so to commemorate their virtues and to venerate them forever the people donated 100,00 ...

... to the "tomb", much like the terracotta warriors in China.  It was all very interesting.  There were other burial sites of his Empress and his mother.  His house was turned into a temple, and there was a lake house that he used to relax ...

... train with five carriages and insriptions. Mad crowds around eggs so hard to get a close look. Also one of the empress's carriages was used as a model for Disney's Cinderella! Lots of stories of Russian royalties killing each other, secret husbands and ...

Istanbul is a magical city, and my new favorite city of all time. We stayed for five days and I wasn't ready to leave when it was time to board our cruise ship and begin the second part of our vacation. There were so many beautiful and fascinating places ...