Towards the end of April we went to Istanbul for a few days. We left in the wee early morning on Friday (our flight was at 2 am) and got back in the wee early morning on Tuesday (our flight got back at about 3), so we had a pretty decent amount of time for a mini-vacation. And we had an amazing time- definitely our favorite trip so far and have about 300 pictures from our trip. I'll try to give a little taste :)
The benefit of flying super early in the morning? Seeing the sun rise from the plane!
Sleepily getting off of the prettily colored plane! It's always a good sign when you're being transported in a vehicle that happens to be your favorite color :)
So we flew into A and had to get over to wear it says Istanbul on the left. We took a bus and then a ferry!
Arran with his wind blown hair as we soar across the Bosphorus Strait.
Excited!
Oh, look! Sea-foam green water! Basically this trip was a whole bunch of my favorite colors every where.
Our first stop after we got there and dropped off our stuff was the Hagia Sophia. At different periods it was a basilica, a mosque, and now it's a museum, so there were both Muslim and Christian influences in the design.
Here you can see the dome pretty well. And us looking all happy :)
Outside washing my feet.
The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there. And there were lots of blooming trees and flowers- it was beautiful.
Next we went to a cistern, that used to provide for people in the city. There used to be aqueducts that shipped the water in and then it was stored here. The columns were actually used, they had been used in previous building, so they were mismatched. Here you can see a few different ones.
Interesting there were also two Medusa heads. One was purposely installed upside down (seen here) and the other was purposely installed on it's side. They are unsure why.
Between the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia there was a really beautiful park with lots of tulips! Apparently Istanbul is known for its tulips. You can also see the fountain in the background which is also pretty. With the beautiful weather tons of people were milling around, hanging out, and eating.
The view of the Blue Mosque from the park!
A better picture of the fountain with the Blue Mosque behind.
This is a view of another park by the Blue Mosque which contained, among other things, an obelisk. This picture was taken from the courtyard outside the mosque.
Also in the park, with the obelisk, was a gazebo with a fountain given by the German Emperor Wilhelm II to commemorate his visit to Istanbul. It had old school German on it, which was pretty neat.
I'll post more soon :)
