Istanbul Not Constantinople... (sing along now!)

Hello there!

We arrived in Istanbul to a beautiful sunny day and we couldn't have been happier.  It was about twenty five degrees cooler than we have felt since New Zealand but we weren't complaining one bit.  We checked into an adorable little hotel with a small rooftop terrace on which free Turkish breakfast was served in the mornings.  We have come to love a Turkish breakfast which is comprised of cheeses, olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled eggs, breads, jams, dried figs and apricots, coffee, and ever present Turkish teas.  The hotel was in the ancient city neighborhood of Sultanahmet and we were thrilled with our choice.  It was a nice change from our hotels in India!

View of Sea of Marmara and Bosphorous from breakfast

View of Sultanahmet neighborhood and Blue Mosque from breakfast

We didn't waste any time getting started when we arrived.  Over our four days in Istanbul we visited many of the top historical sights and there's quite the list...Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Dolmabache Palace, Taksim Square, Basilica Cistern, Egyptian spice market, Arasta Bazaar, and of course the Grand Bazaar.  Each place was grander than the next.  We also loved just walking the old cobble stone streets of the city and exploring other neighborhoods until our legs were worn out.  As in most cities we visit, we also took the local transit system trains a few times when we needed to move further than our feet wanted to carry us.  We took a beautiful walk along the Bosphorous waterfront and took a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul for an afternoon.

The stunning Blue Mosque

Inside Blue Mosque...it was huge and is still a working Mosque

Hagia Sophia - Basilica turned into Mosque turned into museum

Gold plated tile mosaic ceiling

Topkapi Palace entrance, with the masses

Dolmabache Palace...if you think that's impressive you should've seen the inside

Dolmabache Palace from ferry

The Basilica Cistern was built with columns from roman ruins

Egyptian Bazaar

All different kinds of teas

Grand Bazaar...this place was huge! (and a bit of a tourist trap, but still very cool)

The trams were a great break from walking

Turkish Tea (GREAT!) & Ayran yogurt drink (looks cool but more of "an acquired taste")

Also, we hit Istanbul near the end of their Tulip festival so there were incredible flower beds everywhere!

We really enjoyed the food in Istanbul, mostly because we knew we probably wouldn't get sick from it as in India.  The easily accessible areas of Istanbul make it difficult to get away from tourist directed food but we didn't let that stop us from finding great snacks and enjoyed our fair share of kebabs, falafel, bourek, baklava, turkish delight, dondurma (ice cream), pide (pita), and some other local cuisine.  All that said, for Gozleme (a Turkish pancake typically filled with spinach and feta cheese) the best we've found in the world is from Mmm Enfes, a Bryant Park Christmas market food stand that Wes loves to visit while Christine is performing!

Kebabs, kebabs, and more kebabs!

Wes discovered that Turkish barbers give a great haircut and take pampering their clients very seriously.  Above the requested haircut, a barber visit includes a face massage with lemon oil, shoulder massage, head massage, flaming your ear hair away, and cracking your knuckles better than you ever have yourself.  This is all done in every little alley barber shop in Turkey, no "salons" in sight, for about $10 USD (probably half that if you speak Turkish...as with most purchases here).  We loved the sense of freedom we felt in Istanbul, maybe because we were finally not being stared at or likely because we were calling the shots again and not on a tour bus.  Also, it is an incredible feeling being in a city with such an enormous past, a city that has been such a huge part of so many different cultures for thousands of years.

The flight from India to Turkey was our last pre booked flight which makes us feel unencumbered yet a little apprehensive at the same time.  It is quite exciting that we can now move as we please on a shorter time frame.  We can go where we like when we like (mostly) and there is something extremely freeing about that.  Our time in Istanbul was wonderful but once we decided we were done with city life for a bit, we booked a flight to Kayseri, then a bus to Goreme in the Cappadocia region to go live in a cave hotel for a few days.  Just a preview, champagne before breakfast isn't always a bad idea...