Istanbul

We spent a full week in Istanbul and we really enjoyed every minute of it (even though it rained for about 85% of those minutes)! Other than the weather, everything was great about our visit - our hostel, the food, the people and of course, the sights. After a stretch of subpar hostels (mainly in Greece), we were very happy with our Istanbul hostel (Agora Guesthouse), which was a very good thing because we ended up spending a little more time than usual there as we waited out the frequent rain showers. Every morning, the hostel offered a free, all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with traditional Turkish breakfast foods like meat, cheese, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, dried apricots and figs, yogurt, fresh bread, and Turkish tea and coffee. We ate so much every morning that we usually didn't need to get anything for lunch!

The area of town where our hostel was located was the old city, or Sultanahmet. The highlights of the area include the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, and the Grand Bazaar, among many other things. Since Istanbul is 99% Muslim, mosques are a very familiar sight throughout the city. We were very excited to see something other than a Catholic cathedral. As with other types of churches, visitors are welcome, but we did have to remove our shoes and women have to cover their hair before entering. The Blue Mosque (actually called Sultan Ahmed) was located very close to our hostel and therefore we clearly heard the call to prayer as it was broadcast through the mosque's loudspeakers five times a day.

Something that is unavoidable in Istanbul is shopping! There are several different bazaars located throughout the city, most notably the Grand Bazaar, which is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. It was overwhelming! In addition to the bazaars, most of the streets are lined with shops and the sidewalks are covered with people selling various goods laid out on the ground. They were very persistent in their attempts to sell us everything from packets of tissues to scarves to rugs.

Istanbul is the only city in the world that spans two continents. Although the old city and most of the sights are on the European side, we crossed the Bosphorus Strait one day to visit the Asia side of the city. There is a bridge that stretches between the two continents, but we took the ferry across, which took about 20 minutes. The Asian side was much less touristy - we walked through some neighborhoods (including one where the local kids gathered around and mistook Jesse for Michael Jackson - hmm...) and the smaller local markets before heading back over to the European side.

Our sleeper room on the train from Thessaloniki to Istanbul, where we spent 15 hours (no, Jesse has not grown that much - the room really was that tiny!):


A small portion of the Grand Bazaar (it has over 4,000 shops in total):


At the Egyptian Bazaar (also known as the Spice Bazaar):


Outside the Blue Mosque:


Inside the Blue Mosque:


Hagia Sofia, which was the largest cathedral in the world for almost a thousand years and then was turned into a mosque:


The Galata bridge, which connects the two European parts of the city and is lined with fisherman:


Jesse with the bridge from Europe to Asia in the background:


View of the Asian side of the city from our ferry:


What time is it? Time to enjoy a favorite local snack, called a simit, which is similar to a toasted sesame bagel:


A whirling dervish performing at a restaurant:


View from the terrace of our hostel - I wish we'd had more sunny days to enjoy it:


Puffy bread served before our meal at one restaurant - the expression on Jesse's face is: will we be able to eat the whole thing!? answer: yes.


Waiting for our chicken doner (sandwich), one of our favorite things to eat in Istanbul:


One of the many stray dogs in the city - this one adopted us and spent part of a day following us across town: