Day 2: A Bus Tour of the Golden Horn

the Main Gate into the Old City of Constantinople

there are several other old gates into the city eg the Edirne Gate etc

The Boat Cruise - Bus Tour which we bought yesterday, as agreed, was deferred to this morning and as promised the tour van was waiting for us outside the hotel 10 minutes before time. We were transferred to a another location where guests from other hotels had also been picked up to be transferred to a bigger bus for the Golden Horn Bus Tour. This tour would be a good introductory tour for any first-timer to the city of Istanbul. It took us on a ride along the city walls of the Old Constantinople. Pakdokter had never done this tour despite having been to this city for 4 or 5 times before. The guide gave a good description of the city's history. Imagine if the whole outer-ring-road of Kuala Lumpur is made up of a double-layer stone-walls rising up several metres high and seperated in between by a moat of water to add another level of difficulty to any would-be attacker of the city. That's how big the old city of Constantinople was! No wonder it was quite a battle for the Seljuks to conquer the city.

The bus tour took about 2 hours. It made 2 stops - one at the Chora Museum and the other at the Pierre Loti Park. From there the bus crossed the Ataturk Bridge to traverse the new city and the coastal road along the European side of Istanbul. The tourists who joined the tour today continued on their second part which was the boat cruise which we did yesterday. We were dropped off at SultanAhmet Square.