ISTANBUL: THIS AND THAT

 In this post I am including some photos I took in Istanbul that didn't seem to fit in with any of the other posts from my trip.

Ali Pasha, our superb tour guide.

 Scene taken from the Golden Horn of the New District, including the Galata Tower, built in 1349 CE.

The Obelisk of Theodocius, an obelisk the Turkish "borrowed" from Egypt and erected in 390 CE on what turned out to be the grounds outside the Blue Mosque

Below is some detail from the obelisk's pedestal.

The courtyard of the Nuruosmanye Mosque, situated next to the main entrance to the Grand Bazaar. (I just happened to like this composition.)

The cats of Istanbul are ubiquitous and generally seem well cared for.  This cat apparently could not read English.

The tour group's final event before the farewell dinner was a cruise on the Bosphorus.  Unfortunately all of our time on land was spent on the European side of Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, so I did not get an opportunity to set foot in Asia, although I can say that I spent time in the Asian waters of the Bosphorus.  Here are a couple of ornate buildings on the Asian shore that I shot as we passed.

The interesting thing about this last building was that when I looked at photo closely after returning home I discovered that I had taken the shot during a wedding.  A photographer was taking pictures of the bride and groom as we were passing by.  Here is a blowup of a part of my photo showing the camera guy at the lower left photographing the bride, with the groom standing at the top of the staircase.

John