Early prayers and late meals in Istanbul

ISTANBUL, Turkey _ It's about 4:30 on Saturday morning and a song sounds in the darkness from the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, once called Constantinople. I remember this wake-up call from other stops in the Muslim world.. This call to prayer is especially beautiful _ the singer must be a star among the city of 15 million's 2,000 Mosques. It's a bit early from my taste, so I roll over, and we both try to get back to sleep.

This was a bonus. A short stop on our way to Cape Town, South Africa at the start of our 95-day walkabout. It's been a pleasant surprise. Turkish Airlines from Oslo was a smooth flight with friendly if sometimes hard to understand crew. It was snowing when we took off from the Oslo airport, but here there is sunshine after _ locals say _ days of heavy rain. We're lucky dogs, and we know it. So there.

Getting through baggage claim, customs, and immigration was painless, thanks largely to our jovial Norwegian seatmate Baard, an Istanbul regular who coaxed fine wine from first class out of the skeptical flight attendants and tipped us about visas: Get in line to buy one before you get in line for passport control. Worked like a charm.

A cab took us to the historic part of town, where we had a light meal on the roof of our hotel Lady Diana ( Lady Diana _ to the tune of the Beatles Lady Madonna _ got stuck in my head). From the roof,we could look down at the Blue Mosque, completed in 1619, and Hagia Sofia, originally built Christian Church in 537 A.D. before being turned into a mosque in 1453. Both are stunning under there floodlights.

In the morning, we set off to the old town, starting with the Blue Mosque. Guidebook sellers swarm us near the Hippodrome, but I ward them off by flashing my Norwegian-language guidebook. We try to get into the mosque. But it's closed for the next hour or so. ''Pray Time'' says they security guard who is in charge of keeping the tourists out and letting the Muslim worshipers in. We head out to explore some more, and discover lunch of Turkish Meze - like Tapas - at an outdoor restaurant. The streets are so narrow that we wonder how the cars get through.

Food, food, food, and more food as well as clean streets and friendly people seem part of daily life in Istanbul. In the evening, we wander the back streets of the historical district of Sultanahmet looking for a restaurant. We discover one there too, with excellent roasted lamb and wine. (Urp. Excuse me.)

The next morning, we try again to get into the Blue Mosque. ''Pray Time'' again. So we head over to the Basilica Cistern http://www.yerebatansarnici.com/ a water reservoir built under the city in the 6th Century. It it held up by 336 marble columns that are 9 meters high, It is 143 meters (470 feet) long and 65 metres (210 feet). wide. It's cool compared to the hot street above, and the floors are damp. There are hundreds of fish in the water, and thousands of coins tossed by visitors making a wish. On the other side, an artists installation of artificial arms and legs dances with itself.

You may recognized the Cistern, Wikipedia says it was used as a scene in the 1963 James Bond film From Russia with Love and the 2009 film The International.

Emerging from the Underworld, we visit the Blue Mosque, and Hagia Sofia, both stunning works of ancient architecture and craftsmanship.

For dinner, we head off to the Fish District for a dinner that became a tourist attraction in itself. We ordered salt baked Sea Bass without knowing what to expect. After anout 40 minutes, the waiter came out with a mountain of salt on a tray, and set the whole thing on fire. There was a fish inside the smoldering mountain. The flames drew Japanese tourists as if they were moths. When the flames went out, the waiter used a hammer and chisel to liberate the delicious cod. After a while, Turkish diners started to do what I guess Turks do: Dancing it the street.

During the stop, Eva also did what Eva does: Shop. The poor couple at the jewelry store didn't know what hit them when she went into haggle mode over a pair of earings. As usual, I quickly suffered a shopping OD and wanted to do something important and useful, like drink beer.

On the third day, with a late night flight, we took a typical toursist boat ride along the Bosphorus Strait, where Europe meets Asia, had another dinner involved flaming food, and headed for the airport for the overnight flight to Cape Town.

Thanks Istanbul - D&E

Istanbul slide show: