Exploring Istanbul

Our time in Istanbul was much too short.  We planned it mostly as a short stop over on our way to Israel and Jordan, which we immediately regretted.  We arrived in Istanbul on Sunday afternoon and had to figure out how to get in touch with Charles' friend Carole.  Charles and Carole taught together at Episcopal High School in Houston a few years ago.  We had her phone number we just don't have a phone.  We found free wifi in the airport though and so we used our Skype account to give her a call.  We notified her of our arrival and got a taxi towards the suburbs of Istanbul where Carole and her husband Martin live with their precious baby.  Carole and Martin were wonderful hosts, we enjoyed a meal of Turkish food and some wonderful pastry desserts they had picked up from a local shop.  Yummy!  We all stayed up way too late visiting, Charles and Carole had a great time reminiscing about their time together at EHS.  Thanks Martin and Carole for the wonderful hospitality!  

The next morning we enjoyed a little baby time with their 9 month old and then had a great breakfast visiting with Martin and Carole before we set out for the center of Istanbul.  Martin drove us down to the bus and helped us make our way on to the right one.  We found ourselves on a crowded bus inching along towards Taksim Square.  When we were planning our trip we had no idea that we would be arriving in Istanbul on Republic Day, which is a national holiday where they celebrate the nations heroes (or at least that's what we were told).  There were Turkish flags flying all over the city, it was really cool!

Taksim Square on Republic Day

Once we got to our hotel we decided to check out the neighborhood and then make our way across the Golden Horn to the neighborhood Carole and Martin lived in before they moved to the burbs.  Our hotel was in a great location in Sultanahmet near the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque.  Carole recommended going to the Basilica Cistern, which is a cistern built during the 6th century to hold water.  It is really amazing.  You can read more about it here.   

Columns in the cistern

It was so cool down there!

Basilica Cistern

After checking out the Basilica Cistern and the Hippodrome we decided to walk over to the Egyptian Spice Market and do a little market perusing before crossing the Golden Horn.  We took the long way so we could walk through Topkapi Palace grounds, which were beautiful.  The Egyptian Spice Market was full of color and smells and vendors trying to leer you with their Turkish Delight, sparkly jewelry, silver pepper grinders.  It was awesome.  We bought some pistachios, Turkish Delight, and a replacement wedding ring.  I left mine in the U.S. and have been missing them. 

Spice Market

My wedding ring replacement (mine are back at home).

After the Spice Market we hopped on the tram to go to the Beyoglu neighborhood to find the restaurants that Carole recommended.  We stopped first at 5 Kat Restaurant to have a drink on the rooftop.  We lucked out because we got the last table and later found out why it was such a desirable location, they were having a huge fireworks show for Republic Day.  We had a great viewing spot for the whole thing. 

Watching fireworks in Istanbul at 5 Kat

Fireworks over the Bosphorus

When the fireworks ended we went to find dinner at a little local restaurant called Datli Maya - it was delicious and unique - you walk through the kitchen to get to the dining room.  After dinner we called it a day and headed back to our hotel.

Dinner from Datli Maya

Taking the Tram back to our hotel

More on Istanbul to come, but at the moment it's bed time...