Istanbul

We  made it to Turkey! No problems at the airport, we paid $20/15 Euros for our visas and onward we went to Istanbul. We took the train from the airport and walked quite a bit before reaching our hostel. (We are definitely planning to drop some weight from our bags because that walk was miserable.)  The first day we wanted to recover from traveling so we had dinner and chilled.

From then on we tried to hit every major spot.  We visited the Spice Market, a busy bazaar with lots of vendors selling all kinds of teas (even love tea), spices, turkish delights, and dried fruits.  We also visited Topkapi Palace which was the Sultans house in the 1600s, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia which was a church turned to a mosque and is now a museum and hung out in the park. On our last day before we went to the airport, we visited the Grand Bazaar, a humongous indoor street market, with vendors selling clothes, leather items, jewelry, spices, Turkish delights, souvenirs and many other things.

Istanbul is a city filled with life and lots of energy.  It’s a great place to go on vacation.  People are out all day long, the streets are clean, flowers are in bloom everywhere, and the people are generally very friendly (at least in the tourist district of Sultanhamet).  We felt so safe everywhere we went, regardless to the time of day. I'd definitely recommend visiting this city.  

Oh, there was something we realized that we really didn’t expect while we were in Istanbul.  Muthoni is a Superstar! I had no idea.  Everywhere we went people stared at her. They asked to take pictures of her and with her.  Teenage girls gasped with excitement when we walked by – really!. It was crazy… Well, it was interesting at the beginning but then after a few days Muthoni had finally had it. When she’d see someone stare, she’d stare right back. And finally one girl, a Canadian, was staring and Muthoni asked, “What’s the Problem?!” and the girl answered, “Your hair. It’s so beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” It was her braided hair! Really? No Sista’s with braids ever been here before?  Wow, we didn’t expect that.  Muthoni, having had a scarf handy, covered her hair and all of a sudden, nothing. No looks, no photo ops, no paparazzi, no random strangers coming up to ask if Muthoni is a singer, or store owners calling out “Naomi Campbell”.   What a relief, we could enjoy the rest of our day in peace.

Anyhow, check out our pics below.

Public Transit in Istanbul gets an A+.

Streets of Istanbul

Fruit stands in the city sell fresh orange and pomegranate juice.

The Spice Market

There are so many spices, teas, and Turkish Delights to choose from.

Here's one of Istanbul's many mosques.

Washing station for your feet before entering

Ornate ceiling in Topkapi Palace

Entrance to Topkapi Palace

Ottoman Decoration in Topkapi Palace

Samba performers in Istanbul

The Basilica Cistern

Cistern, in sepia

Enjoying some sunshine in Sultanhamet with the Superstar!

The Blue Mosque

The ceiling inside the Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque at night, in Sepia

They serve some really good handmade ice cream... mmm mmmm

View from the hostel's roof top terrace

The Street our hostel was on were bustling til midnight.

Some camera trickery :)

The Asian side of Istanbul (we were on the European side)

Hagia Sophia

Inside Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia by day

The Grand Bazaar

Mu fell in love with these lamps

We stayed in Istanbul for 2 nights then took a V&M tour (easy and cheaper than booking one) of Anatolia, which is the area of Turkey on the Asian Continent. In Anatolia we visited Selcuk, Fethiye and Goreme (see the next blogs). After that we came back to Istanbul for 1 more night.