tour

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Amazing places of worship- Istanbul Day 2

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The previous post in this series is here..

Day 2 started with a nice breakfast at our hotel and we walked to the tour guide for an all day walking tour of Old Istanbul. Our Viator guide came on time and told us that we will have an hour and a half break. The other two folks in our tour (from Kerala, India) had opted for lunch while we didn’t. So he was going to give us a break. That meant everyone in our group was making their own plan for the rest of the day already! The kids are no longer kids, you see..

We walked through the Hippodrome area, got a lot of history of the place, how Christianity came to be what it is today, how Islam came to be what it is today, etc. One thing was certain.. no matter how big the empires and how great the buildings, time has a way of changing empires, religion and we are moving forward.

The grandeur of the two mosques we visited.. got my backbends for the day done, taking these pano shots.

First the few photos of us.. I just went nuts taking photos of the blue mosque and Hagia Sophia. These buildings are architectural marvels that are places of worship. The idea is to inspire awe, and that they do effortlessly as soon as you walk in. They humble you!

The portrait picture gallery..

And the gallery of landscape photos..

After the tour was done, we were taken to a multistory leather goods shop (apparently has a tie up with the tour for our rates). We got treated to a catwalk show of leather clothes. Given none of us in the family wear leather, we just enjoyed the experience, walked around the store, then went to the rooftop to take in views of the city. There was no obligation to buy and I could get Ramarajan shirts from 0 to 255 on the RGB color scale for the price of one of these jackets.

Then we walked to a nice restaurant called Sultana Cafe, which had vegetarian options. Our guide did good by taking us to this place. They had rice, aaloo parathas Turkish cousin, made right in front of us! and other veggie dishes that delighted the family. (also we saw Turkish crows that look like desi crows but have brown, black and gray feathers.. they are also called Kaa Kaa!!)

The photo I cherish the most from this days trip…

After this it was back to the hotel. It was hot out and we all wanted to clean up, rest our feet before meeting our tourguide for the afternoon session.

A video highlight reel of the mornings tour..

It was getting really hot and we made a dash for our hotel.. we had 90 minutes before catching our guide at the post lunch stop..

will pick it up there tomorrow.

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The magic of Charles bridge and the Vltava river

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The previous post in this series is here..

Good thing the photos and videos are bringing back memories.

After our visit to the castle complex, our guide walked us down the hundreds of steps to the Charles bridge that was built starting in 1347 AD!

It is a fantastic bridge as are the statues on it.

We walked down the steps and right before we got to the bridge we got some funnel cake. It is a local delicacy. We missed it in Budapest.. but got it here. It was close to a Churro..

After this walk across the bridge, we got to see the old Jewish Quarter, one of the oldest areas in Prague, followed by a lunch with local cuisine (which doesn’t have much in the way of Vegetarian options).. so we ate fried cheese and bread.. the rest of the group loved it. This was a restaurant in the basement of a 800 year old building. They had to put special wiring in to light the place with bulbs. It was interesting.

This was followed by more walking and finally a boat cruise on the river to see all the landmark buildings from the river. When the cruise was over, we said bye to our guide. He told us to walk back to the hotel through a gap! We went “duh”.. why did we Uber here in the morning. we could have just walked it!

a few photo galleries.. We walked past the place where they shot the first Mission Impossible movie and actually recognized it. Our guide was full of information on events that we could recognize from famous movies, famous artists who came to Prague and were inspired, there was a lot of talk of Duran Duran, etc. He was an “all things Prague” guy!

A lot of photos in the Portrait format gallery.. tall structures, small roads, go figure!

The clock tower in the old square was supposed to be a highlight and our guide said go there and don’t miss it. San and me decided to walk around a bit. We also got to spend time at the Kafka head which turns every few minutes. When we saw the head, we realized it was 300 feet from our hotel. So we decided to take a break go get changed and then get back to the square.

A video highlights reel of this part of the Prague tour..

The last part of our evening in another post..

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Nature trip in Arizona Part 3: Lower Antelope Canyon

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The previous post in this series is here..

After we were dropped off at the tour operator office for Upper Antelope canyon, we walked as fast as we could to our rental car that had been baking in the parking lot, and made a dash to the office for Lower Antelope canyon tours. 

When we went to check in, the tour was just about to start. Good thing I dropped off the ladies to find parking. By the time I made it to the office, the tour started. After walking a 100 feet with the group realized that my iPhone was missing. The tour guide said "sir, if you leave the group now, you cannot join again!". In two minds the whole time, tried to put the iPhone off my head and decided to enjoy the tour with the SLR.

Did take a few photos with San's phone. Fortunately it had just dropped below the bags in the trunk. So all was well. 

The lower antelope canyon looks even more amazing because you wouldn't expect a small gap on a rock side to open into such an amazing place! 

This one is even more mind boggling than the upper canyon. The features look the same but the colors and swirls and light show within the canyon walls is amazing. The paths are also a lot more narrower at places and you are better off watching your head at all times!

No video for this tour.. but plenty of pictures. The tourguide and SIL became art directors and we ended up doing a lot of posing, to add to the fun!

Nature galleries..

We walked back to the car. The guide was telling us about the one plant that grows everywhere in the area that the Indians use as morning tea and herbal supplement for all ailments!

We took a short break at the tour office and took pictures in front of the murals..we had not had a break for food or restroom since leaving the hotel in the morning. 

They were all smiles after the tour.. This was just for the photo. We were glad to make it back to the hotel room to finish the leftover idlis, tamarind rice and thayir sadam that was waiting for us in the fridge.

No wonder the kids refused to come with us on tours these days. The very sight of those tamarind rice, idly and thayir sadam packets makes them run.. it is just a question of time before they pack the same thing and drag their kids along to national parks..

Strongly recommend the lower antelope canyon if you go to this area. Do NOT miss it! Given a choice of either canyon, pick this one.. 

We had one more tour for the day.. that in the next post!

Copyright © 2012, Sundar Narayanan. All rights reserved.