Turkey
Istanbul
Istanbul: a lively and beautiful city filled with culture, food, and fun! The tulip is very special in Turkey, so while I went shopping, this beautiful flower appeared on many different clothing designs. During our 5 day stay in Turkey, my family and I rented a place in "Pera Neuf," a cute and fashionable location right next to The Tunel (the second oldest subway in the world allowing us to travel back and forth between Galata).
Galata Tower...
In Istanbul, Galata is known as the center of social life, and the first thing that caught my attention was the Galata Tower which used to function as an old watchtower. This tall tower allowed us to capture a 360 view of the city!
The Mosques...
The highlight of this trip has got to be the mosques! A numerous of mosques filled the area, but my family and I chose to go in Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque. These two were right next to each other and we even got a chance to see the inside. The lines were crowded but we were able to get in fast enough. As I took pictures, I was purely just fascinated by the structure and color of both mosques. Once the sun started to set and the seagulls flew around the outside, a fairytale-like setting was created. What an expereince!
Hagia Sophia
Inside Hagia Sophia
Blue Mosque Inside Blue Mosque
The Water System...
Istanbul was a city surrounded by water and sea on all three sides. This construction of the first water system, Basilica Cistern, was built more than 2000 years ago and is still sturdy today, storing water for the entire city. The spacious water system was built underground and displayed carvings of heads on the pillars, like Medusa's head. Every few minutes, the lights would turn on and create an immense and surreal scene.
TopKapi Palace...
This beautiful palace is worth the visit! TopKapi palace covers a lot of ground and takes a couple hours to get through the whole thing. There is so much history and architecture displayed, and I was truly fascinated by the amount of jewelry and objects that were preserved.
The Spice Bazaar...
Finally, we took an adventure into the Spice Bazaar where we bought some tea, spices, and gorgeous scarves.
​
Later, we went to the Grand Bazaar, went shopping some more, and then took a ferry ride to the side of Turkey that was in Asia. This was pretty interesting knowing that one side of Istanbul was in Europe, and the other side was in Asia!
I wish that we could stay longer--our trip to Istanbul was super memorable! The 5 days were filled with viewings of amazing architecture, lots of delicious food and Turkish ice-cream, shopping, adventures in the mosques, and more. At the restaurant Seven Hills, I even got to feed left over fish to the seagulls on the roof...
