Istanbul: Day One

A few friends and I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Istanbul, this past weekend. I took 518 pictures in four days, and, contrary to popular belief, I have a job, so this blog will only be able to accomodate an abbreviated sweep of my days in Istanbul. Pixelated tour begins now, with part one of four.

Eating breakfast on the flight.
Turkish Airlines is excellent.

Breakfast on the rooftop terrace of the hotel upon arrival.

Terrace views of the city.

On the street.

The Hippodrome, across the street from the Blue Mosque.

View of the Blue Mosque through the park.

Entrance to the Blue Mosque.

Blue Mosque: called the Blue Mosque because of the blue iznik tilework decorating the interior.
Built 1609-1616 by Mehmet Ağa-- imperial architect.

Courtyard of the mosque.

Detail on dome ceiling of the mosque.

Large areas for prayer.
Tourists are not allowed past the barricade.

Prayer mats.

Hellen and I inside the mosque-- heads covered, shoes off.

Exterior of mosque.

Another shot of the Blue Mosque.

Blue Mosque at night.
Gorgeous.

Hagia Sofya.

There were tons of Turkish schoolkids out that day.

Me and a tea vendor.
He gave me free tea.

More Hagia Sofya.
It was originally a Christian cathedral, but was later converted into a mosque.
Apparently, the Pope wants to convert this back to a Christian monument. Good luck converting a major national monument from a mosque to a cathedral in a country that is 99.8% Muslim.

Turkish shopping is unbelievable.

Topkapı Palace.





The Turkish kids got really excited about us. They waved wildly, and shouted: "Hello! Hello! What's your name? Where are you from?" Some even ran up and took pictures of me on their cellphones. A bunch of others gave Hellen and me a "Konichiwa" with a big bow. (See picture above.)

Seal of the Ottoman empire.

The harem: 400 rooms that formerly housed over 1,000 concubines.

Sweet Ottoman weapons.


Hellen and the Ottoman soldiers.

Sword.

The Kim-Jo-Phan fam does Topkapı Palace.

Some Turkish dudes asked to take their picture with me and Sanford was kind enough to document the moment for posterity. Yes, that's Hellen cracking up in the background.








The circumcision room.


Rear of Topkapı Palace overlooking the Bosphorous.


Narrow cobblestone street.


Walking through the park.

Ginormous Turkish flag next to a regular-sized Turkish flag.

Welcome to Istanbul.

Istanbul tram.

The tram running by our fave local bar-- Cozy.

It's pretty cozy.


Baklava.

View of the Blue Mosque from our terrace bar the first night.

Happy to be in Istanbul.