Last full day in Istanbul

Yes, we are starting to lose steam. Today our plan was not very ambitious. We only had the Istanbul Archeology Museum left on our to-do list. We also needed to come up with a way to get the the airport on the Asian side of the city in time for our plane tomorrow. After checking Turkeytravelplanner.com, we went to a recommended agency and arranged for a shuttle. They usually only have two per day so we were resigned to arriving at the airport many hours early (again), but luckily someone else had arranged for a shuttle to pick them up about noon so we are going to fill the shuttle going in the other direction. It's a win/win.

Ancient Bureau of Weights and Measures

After checking that off the list we had the rest of the day to spend at the museum. Theoretically it is possible to spend most of a day there. It's not as impressive as the one in Ankara, but there are still significantly more ancient artifacts there than you will see anywhere at home. I think our favorite part might have been the floor that they have devoted to the various levels of the history of Troy. Each level that you dig down deeper, the more things you find from earlier eras. Since I don't think we are going to make it to Troy, this was the next-best thing. As an added bonus, they had a model of the Trojan horse that you can climb inside.

Another eagle/serpent

According to the guide book, the tile museum that is also part of the larger museum complex is not usually open. We lucked out and it was. We looked around for a bit and it was pretty and the temperature was cool. We would have appreciated it more if we hadn't been really hungry. There is a little self-serve cafe in what I would call the column garden outside, but we needed something more substantial.

For lunch we stopped for the last time at the Lalelim restaurant just off Cemberlitas near the movie theater. We ate a number of meals there and they were all excellent and reasonably priced. We especially enjoyed watching the cook making the bread and the pide in the open oven in the back. We considered posing for a picture with him, but felt a little weird about it. Before we left we gave the staff one of the Virginia postcards that we brought to Turkey.

Inside the Trojan horse

Josh is not alone

Josh's Istanbul babe

Medusa head in "column park"

Rapunzel Alex

Road construction in Istanbul

The eagle and the serpent

The statues come alive