the last day in Istanbul.

Another good breakfast. Hooray. The last one at this hotel. Sonia and I had to leave for the airport at 6 p.m. and Fouad not until after 7 because he was flying to Lebanon from another airport. But we had to check out at 12, so we packed up, left our bags downstairs and headed for the Basilica Cistern just around the corner. The line was short and we were in in 15 minutes.  This is an absolutely amazing structure with Doric and Corinthian columns of marble, all underground of course. It was just so hard to grasp the enormity of it. This was all created during the Roman Empire and thousands of slave probably died building it. The cistern was filled with the water from the mountains in Bulgaria. The Romans were brilliant engineers.
We left the cistern and the only think that was really interesting g for me to still see was Dolmabahce Palace. Sonia and Fouad didn’t want to wait in anymore lines, but it didn’t really matter to me whether I waited in a line or walked through a bazaar, so I went back on the tram to the Palace. Boy, am I glad I did. With security check and ticket, it took me about 45 minutes, but it was totally worth it. It rivals anything Ludwig II build in Bavaria. Everything was so spacious and the furnishings were exquisite. No picture taking was allow at all inside, so I can only recommend that you go online and google it.  I would have been mad if I had missed it.
After two hours, I left the palace and walked to the restaurant halfway up the hill and ate a late lunch overlooking the Bosporus. It was a great way to end the trip. I rode back to the old city where the hotel is and just looked around for awhile, then met the other two at the hotel. The time had finally come for vacation to end.
After one last glass of good Turkish tea, Sonia and I left Fouad and took the tram and the metro to the airport. Check-in was eat and quick, but of course there was a gate change and a take-off delay. But we finally got into Kazan at about 1:30 a.m. and wentvthrough passport control in about 45 minutes. We got a taxi and we were back home at about 3. I was glad to get in bed.