Turkish Delight, but I'm almost out of Jetons

So far, so good in Istanbul with one day to go before we move on to Moscow's  100+ degree temperatures.

Highlights:

-The Blue Mosque.  An obvious choice, but it is really amazing walking in to the structure.  And the outside is already beautiful so that's saying something.

-Drinking banana tea and playing checkers with Dara at one of the nargileh places.  Some guys' jobs is to walk around and get dormant water pipes going strong again.  They exhale so much smoke that their head is totally surrounded in a cherry-flavored cloud.

-The Ayasofia.  It has many layers, literally and historically.  Now a museum, as you walk in you can see the foundations of its early incarnations as a church under the Byzantines.  Once you go in, you see many beautiful Christian-themed mosaics that, ironically, are well preserved because they were plastered over when the Ottomans converted it to a mosque.  Justinian, Constantine, Jesus, Mary, the whole crew is in the house.  In addition, the requisite Arabic postings of Allah, mohamed, and the four other important guys.  There's a hole you can put your thumb in and try to twist it all the way around for good luck, but it didn't seem like it was worth waiting for a mob of grinning tourists to get the photo of your inevitable fail.

-The Basilica Cisterns.  A great way to cool off on a hot afternoon was visiting this underground water storage and distribution system.  It's got fish in it and two statues of Medusa.

-Food - I have found that anything I tried here that also existed in Greece, it was better here.  Take a hike, Athens moussaka!  Now there's something tastier!

-Whirling Dervish show - Five men dressed in white go on a spiritual journey right before your eyes for fifty Euros.  How can you beat that? Really quite amazing to see - they looked so relaxed.

-more to come: we're not done yet!