Istanbul, Turkey (October 12-19)

Istanbul was awesome! Beautiful architecture, delicious and inexpensive food, friendly people, and a strong U.S. dollar…what more could you want? We were based in a fourth floor apartment in the Sultanahmet (old city) section of Istanbul, next door to a small (but loud) mosque. We had “front row seats” for the call to prayer broadcast by speakers on the mosque five times a day. That and the nice view of the Sea of Marmara from our terrace off the back provided great ambiance for our visit.

Note the deserted building across the way…it was fun to watch cats climb in and out of the holes in the roof. Cats were all over the place in Istanbul.

We hit all the usual sites, each of which was within easy walking distance of our apartment.

Basilica Cistern, built during the 6th century. The ceiling is supported by columns recycled from the ruins of older buildings.

Medusa head in the cistern.

Sultan Ahmed Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque

Pretty inside, but not as impressive as the write-ups make it sound

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia (the impressive dome was partially obscured by scaffolding on the inside,
which made it difficult to fully appreciate).

The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Market were fun to visit, though we weren’t looking to buy anything. We were prepared for aggressive sales techniques from the shop keepers, but they really weren’t too bad. Daniel was always treated the best out of all of us throughout the week…and being a kid who loves to interact with new people he ate it up, high-fiving shop keepers, and graciously accepting kisses and hair tousles from complete strangers (all well-supervised by mom or dad, of course).

Spice volcanos!

savvy shoppers

I would have liked one of these, if it wasn’t such a pain to ship home

While we did resist buying any Turkish carpets or other reminders of Istanbul, we couldn’t bypass the Turkish dessert shops, which we visited several times. Turkish delight (chewy flavored gelatin with or without nuts, dusted in sugar or coconut), and baklava of all shapes and sizes. We also enjoyed the turkish coffee…though we aren’t ready to give up our drip-brewed french roast.

Caroline and I finished up our week in Istanbul with a fun cooking class at Cooking Alaturka. Nine of us worked to put together a delicious five course lunch of Turkish dishes from different regions of the country. I would have enjoyed it all more had I not come down with something the night before, making me sick to the stomach at the smell of food.  Rather bad timing.  I powered through, and still managed to sample the end result.

Caroline and a couple of nice French guys from Nice

Sadly, Istanbul was the only part of Turkey that we saw this go around, but we’ll return some day to see some other parts of the country, and to enjoy some more of what Istanbul has to offer!