Istanbul (not Constantinople)

Last week a took a trip to Istanbul. I had a wonderful time. It is such a beautiful, unique, and historical city. I arrived on Thursday and immediately went to an area called Taksim to meet up with our hosts. Taksim is a young and vibrant part of the city. I didn't realize how much I missed a modern city until I walked around Taksim; I nearly had a heart attack when I saw a Starbucks.

We went to a cafe for some tea, coffee and hookah. I am not much of a coffee drinker and Turkish coffee is really strong, essentially boiled, finely ground coffee beans with a bit of water. After my coffee I was bouncing around for the rest of the night and acting all jittery. It was great coffee though and I definitely had several cups during my stay.

For our first tourist attraction we visited Dolmabahçe Palace. It was built in 1843 and was used as the administrative center for the Ottoman Empire. Later Ataturk lived in the palace where he eventually died in 1938. The palace itself was beautiful enough to move you to tears. It was HUGE and full of crystal chandeliers (one of them weighing 3 tonnes), jewels, gold, massive and ornate carpets, and intricate details. Unfortunately however, I couldn't take pictures inside.


We then went to Hagia Sophia, built in 537 AD as a church and then converted into a mosque 1453. Components of both the church and the mosque exist today.



Our next stop was Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque), built in 1616 and it is the second largest in Turkey. It is still used as a mosque and you can regularly hear singing from it and the other nearby mosques.


After Blue Mosque we went to the Basilica Cistern. This cistern is the largest of several located underground in Istanbul. It was built in the 6th century. This cistern provided water for Topkapi palace and other major buildings. Today it has fish and you can throw in money to make a wish. At the back corner of the cistern there were two Medusa heads - one on its side and one on its head. They think that these were meant to ward off evil.

And after so much touring we were pretty hungry so we had to get some food. These potatoes were baked and filled with cheese and then you got to choose your own toppings. The restaurant was situated directly beside a mosque.

And of course I had to try the baklava. Delicious!

Matthias and I went to the Egyptian spice market. Outside the entrance was a giant jar of leeches. I really liked the spice market. It was full of dried fruit, Turkish delights, nuts, ceramics, mosaics and of course, spices. I did some shopping and tried my hand at bargaining. I'm not very good at bargaining.



We then took a boat ride over the Bosporous from the European side of Istanbul to the Asian side to see a ballet. The ferry provided a great view of Dolmabahçe Palace.

In the evening we went to Galata Tower to find a really great kebab place. Galata Tower was made famous in 1630 when Hezarfen Celebi flew Over the Bosporous with artificial wings.

On our last day in Istanbul we went to the Grand Bazar. It was very colorful and a little overwhelming.

After the Bazar I bought some roasted chestnuts, a common street food. One of them had a little worm inside...ew.

It was such a beautiful day that I needed to take another picture of Hagia Sophia.

We then visited Topkapi Palace. It was used as the primary residence of the Sultans from 1465 to 1856. The Palace provided a great view of the city.




For our last evening we took a ferry to Prince's Island. We had to wait for the ferry so I had some tea. I like the little Turkish tea cups. Unfortunately we got to the island too late and it was more or less closed. But the sunset ferry ride was well worth it.

This tower was in a James Bond movie.