Turkey: Days 1 & 2

Three full weeks is a long time for vacation!  Our adventures through five countries with a combination of 8 travelers has left me with a lot to write about (not to mention a lot of laundry to catch up on!)  First on our trip was TURKEY.

It's probably a little random that we ended up in Turkey.  But several months ago I told one of my sisters that if they were going to come all the way to Germany, we should go somewhere cool.... like Turkey.  That idea kind of stuck, and when they were looking at plane tickets over here, they found a good deal into Istanbul.

Overall, it was a city unlike anything we've seen in Europe.  There are mosques everywhere, and oriental architecture and tiling.  It's colorful, with some parts that reminded us more of Latin America than Europe.  Streets are organized by trade-- a whole street of people selling shoes, or a whole neighborhood of people selling car parts.  Everywhere we turned there were people trying to sell us something--and they're very persistent salesmen.  You can't drink the water, but luckily food prices were quite low compared to traveling around Europe.  I loved having an exchange rate in our favor!

Hyrum and I flew in Friday night after work.  I'm glad we didn't get mugged as we walked around dark narrow alleys at midnight with our suitcases looking for our hotel.  Lucky us that a random group of men on the street offered to help, and instead of leading us away to our death, actually led us right to the "hotel" door.  (It was more like a house with 3 bedrooms they rented.)  I was happy not to be wandering around more, because that part of the city was very hilly and windy.  A wrong turn meant a lot of extra steep walking.

Saturday morning  I was woken up by someone yelling outside.  Early.  I was half asleep and couldn't figure out what the noise was all about.  As soon as I'd fall back asleep, it started all over.  When I finally got up, I asked Hyrum if he'd heard the noise.  I couldn't figure out what it was, or if perhaps I'd just dreamed it.  Then I realized:  it was the 5 am call to prayer!  (Heard from every mosque around the city.)  We heard it several more times throughout the day, and each following morning.  Luckily I learned to tune it out while I was sleeping.

We hit up the Grand Bazaar before meeting up with Jenna and Matt at noon.  It's amazing how BIG the bazaar is, yet being surrounded by a wall, you can be right next to it and not know where it is.  We headed down some narrow roads and eventually found an arched entrance to the centuries-old covered labyrinth of shops-- amazingly over 4000 shops are inside!  The structure is noticeably old, but still beautiful with colored tiles and arches when you glance up.  They sell everything, too: bowls, jewelry, chandeliers, candy, souvenirs, etc.

One of the many entrances to the Bazaar

We met Jenna and Matt at the hotel we'd all be staying at-- which was conveniently located next to the Hippodrome, and literally a 2 minute walk from the Blue Mosque.  (Didn't hurt that it was also next door to a candy shop that sold Turkish Delight and baklava!!  We ate our moneys worth there.)  Since we wanted to do most of the tourist-y things once Mom and Dad arrived, we headed instead to Galata Tower in the "new town".  It would be more accurately described as "not old and touristy".  It was plenty ghetto and not new.  It was also all uphill.  And we weren't sure we were going the right way.  Eventually, we did find the tower, and after a short stair climb and elevator ride (bless all places with elevators!) we had beautiful views of all Istanbul.  

view of tower from outside

Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque

"New" town

Galata Bridge

Before returning to the hotel to meet Mom and Dad, we made one last stop at the soccer stadium.  Of course.

At dinner time we met up with everyone at the hotel.  We were impressed with ourselves that we'd managed to all find each other (at the appointed times) in this new city.  It was fun to catch up.

We lucked out on dinner that night-- we ended up at a table on the roof terrace overlooking the water, with nobody else in sight.  We could be as loud as we want!  (And we LOVE that).  There were huge boats out in the harbor that made the sunset even more picturesque.