High on my list of favorite places I've been to is Istanbul, Turkey. The whole experience was just so much fun! We booked our hotel from Crete the day before we got to Turkey [yeah - that's how I typically roll].
And we stayed here! It was perfect. At first we were a little nervous because we arrived at night and it seemed like it could be a little sketchy. But we were way wrong. The place was new, clean, and close enough to everything. It was a little suite with a kitchenette, flat screen TV, and free wireless. And it included a 1-way airport transfer. All for only about $50/night. We loved it!
The food in Turkey was also AWESOME! This whole trip was full of good food actually. We loved just about every meal we had.
Camille and I got new scarves and we decided to be artistic.
We took a boat to the Asia side of Istanbul. I had no idea Istanbul was built on 2 continents. The boat ride was nice, but a little long...so we entertained ourselves with the Camille's camera features. :)
Drinking apple tea for the first time in Turkey. And definitely not the last. This stuff is everywhere (not usually such a bright green though). It's tasty and I was a fan. So was Camille - who is probably the biggest tea drinker I know. I think she fell in love with Turkey just for their tea (well and Salop also).
The view and the sunset from the boat were pretty amazing as we were getting back to the Europe side of the city.
After we got back from our (a little too long) boat trip, we made our first trip to the spice market! And we fell in love.
We loved walking through the markets in Turkey. We had fun meeting all the people and trying all the flower and fruit teas. And they had so many amazing spices! We definitely didn't leave empty handed....
Camille and her waiter friends. They liked her! ;)
Trying Salop! - A hot drink they make there. So delicious!
Inside the Blue Mosque
Fresh pomegranate juice! LOVE!!
In front of the Hagia Sophia
Is this not the largest Shawarma you've ever seen!?!?!!! It's like heaven.
So - a couple of the girls we met in Athens at the race (Clyde's friend's Raquel and Sherri) were also in Istanbul the same time we were. So, we decided to meet up with them... They wanted to go try out a Turkish Bath so we met up with them at this place and had the whole Turkish bath experience! ha. We were all a little nervous...but we embraced it and went with it! "when in Rome..."
After getting scrubbed and having a massage...we found a place to grab dinner and some ice cream before Sheri and Raquel had to head to the airport to fly back to the US.
Camille and I decided to walk back to our hotel from where we were...not realizing how far it was! It took us a while. But made a few stops along the way and had a good time. Camille bought one of these cool little instruments. I forget what it's called.
Our last say in Turkey, we decided to hit up the palace and the Grand Bazaar. On our way...we ran into more people trying to sell us stuff. The men are so forward in Turkey and they don't give up.... Camille and I realized that the best way to deal with them was to 1 - ask them their name...and 2 - ask them if we could take a picture with them. It usually threw them off that we were interested in them instead of just ignoring them as I'm sure most tourist do. Then they would forget that they were selling to us and let us go on our way as we politely declined their offers.
Somewhere (pic above) in the palace. It was alright - but i realized I'm not really a palace person. They all start to look the same after a while. Old furniture, old paintings. You've seen 1, you've seen them all.. At least for the most part. Just a glorified museum.
If any of watched the bachelorette - Ali's season... She went here to the Cistern (above pic) for a date.
The view of the blue mosque from a restaurant we ate one of our last Turkish meals at. And me eating my favorite Sheppard Salad! Love this stuff. I went to a Turkish restaurant here and it wasn't the same. The funny thing is that it's supposed to be the "poor man's" salad. But I love it! It's so good!
After lunch we hit up the Grand Bazaar and even made it back to the Spice Market for a second time... And well, we met lots of people trying to sell us stuff so our little trick came in handy and we got lots of pictures from it......
Oops..how did that happen?
Camille arm wrestling for a free scarf.
On our way back to the hotel we found the cutest little restaurant and it was perfect last meal! The waiter once again fell in love with Camille. And the bartender made us some napkin flowers! ha.
We were sad to leave! We had such a great time... I've talked to some people that have visited Turkey and didn't like it nearly as much as I did. I think I just had a great combination of the best travel buddy, a great hotel, and not really any expectations to live up to. I would definitely go back!
1 comment:
Wow. Lots and lots of wow.
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