Sultanahmet and the last of the tulips

On Sunday, we spent the afternoon in Sultanahmet, the historic heart of Istanbul. Our main purpose was to buy me a museum card (foreign residents are now allowed to buy the year-long pass, woohoo!), but we ended up just doing a lot of wandering around.

My Instagram photo of the Hagia Sophia

Although we went to Gulhane Park last year to see the tulips, for whatever reason, we didn't go look at the tulips at the Blue Mosque or the Hagia Sophia. So this year, we rectified that; we also explored around the Hippodrome and popped into the Archaeology Museum, but I'll save those bits for another post.

Walking along the Hippodrome, Instagram again

We started at the Hippodrome and the Blue Mosque. I hadn't actually been inside the courtyard of the Blue Mosque since my very first day in Istanbul, all the way back in July 2010. That day, some guy tried to pick me up on the street -- I tried to duck him by going into the Blue Mosque, but he said he'd wait for me at the exit, so I covered up my hot-pink shirt with a black pashmina and ran out the other side. :)

Crescent-and-star hedge...like the Turkish flag

Courtyard of the Blue Mosque

But I digress...

Street cat sitting on the weekly bazaar tables

Sultanahmet and Turkey's Anadol car

We ended the day at Gulhane Park, which was ridiculously crowded but not all that surprising as tourist season has already started in Sultanahmet.

Crowded Gulhane Park

Orange and yellow tulips in Gulhane Park

And that, most likely, is the last of my tulip posts for the year. I know, I know...say it ain't so!