Mosque Tile [Sixteenth Female Post] We do love Istanbul, in spite of the crowds. Had a great experience tonight... well, maybe "great" isn't accurate, but "interesting." Met another couple here living in the Orcas Islands and asked at the desk for a restaurant recommendation for dinner with them. We were directed to a "cozy" restaurant that was hard to find, but instead got shanghaied into another, similar-sounding cafe with no customers. The place looked suspect and had no English, no menu, and no alcohol, but the women insisted we stay and brought out dish after dish, most seemingly from external sources. The dolma, beans, and peppers were mediocre at best but just kept coming, plate after plate despite our objections. We finally stemmed the tide and managed to have a good time together despite the lousy food, but then the bill came... an incredible amount (like $5 for a small dish of yoghourt). Oh, well; they seemed really nice and hospitable...  And getting hosed is part of the "job" of a tourist...     Before that, we had tackled the Grand Bazaar, wandering its maze with our friends Al and Barbara Garvey from Vallarta, whom we'd arranged to meet there. Stopped at a little courtyard cafe for a bite, then said goodbye and left the huge covered market. We immediately got lost in a tangle of streets in which we were the only honkies, full of actually useful shops with local prices. One lens had fallen out of my glasses, but we stumbled onto an optical store that fixed them for me with no charge and a courtly smile. Finally found the Spice Bazaar, which was fragrant and colorful and more interesting to me... Not the Blue Mosque, but Pretty Big [Male Note: I'm fairly positive we were the first guests at the Empress Zoe Hotel, just below the Haj Sophia and Blue Mosque, ever to have not set foot in either.  Crowd-averse slackers.] The big-draw mosques are so jammed that we may not have the energy for their interiors, but we had learned of a smaller one near the Spice Bazaar that was just exquisite. I believe I like mosque architecture and interiors far more than European cathedrals. We waited for prayers to be over, took off our shoes, and I dutifully covered my hair with a scarf. But wait! My calf-length dress was deemed too short, so I was given a sarong to wrap over it, down to my ankles. Very nice people, a peaceful and holy site. And free of charge, unlike the bigger venues.  Brain-washced Western Tourist The Rüstem Pasa Mosque: Less pleasant was the next day, when I went out shopping on my own. Too timid to buy anything and endlessly hassled by men ("Lady, where are you from? Where you want to go?"), which became quite depressing after an hour or so. (I remember hiding in my hotel from Roman men in the 60s, but hadn't expected it in 2014.) Tile Palace (Istanbul Archeological Museum) Tile Palace Interior  But then I ran into Paul at the Archeological Museum and voila!—no more pesky fellows... except for him, of course.  [Male correction: Voila! I bought her a beer...] The Sax is a beer pull Beer Garden Moochie We later descended into the underground Roman cistern, eerie and fabulous, with supporting columns recycled from earlier ruins and huge fat carp roiling about in the shallow waters; you have to see the photos to understand...  Cistern Carp, not boiling water Boring Cistern Specs [And you won't believe what else we came across!] Gratuitous Kitty Siblings