The plan was for 10 days sailing with old friends from NZ.. Well, we didn't get quite so much sailing in as expected as F. came down with a stomach bug but we ended up in Symi, one of the prettiest villages/islands on the planet, not before seeing dolphins jumping right by the boat as they chased fish, a patrol by Eurocopters checking for Syrian refugees and a huge storm that made us change anchorage in the middle of the night. 

 
meanwhile, in Istanbul:



this last mosaic is in the Hagia Sophia, easily the most impressive building I have ever seen. 
It is HUGE
It was built in 5 years and 10 months, and 
It was built in the  5th Century AD.

it's kind of like discovering the Celts actually invented rocket technology in 800AD and walked on the moon or finding out the Burj Khalifa was built by Arabs in 1600 using oxen and slave labor. It is that kind of mental disconnect.

Absolutely mind boggling. It was the Christian world's largest cathedral for 1000 years before becoming converted to a mosque. Luckily the Christian mosaics were merely covered in plaster (thereby conserving them) and forgotten for the next five hundred years. Ataturk made a sovereign decision to convert it to a museum, leading to the uncovering of the most amazing continguous 1500 years of history in one building. While we were there the Islam fundamentalists were protesting vigorously outside to return the building to a mosque. Not sure who is going to get it first, the fundamentalists or the next big earthquake to hit Istanbul. Nothing is permanent I guess. I feel very lucky to have seen it because I greatly fear it is not going to be around for ever.