Istanbul

This week during my holiday I went with another teacher to Istanbul.  Here are my adventures from the week. Be sure to check out the pictures on Flickr :)

Monday

Monday morning we had bus tickets to head up to Istanbul, it is about a 6 hour bus ride, we got to the bus station early and enjoyed a nice breakfast and then got on our bus at 10:30am.  The bus was pretty comfortable, it had wifi access so I enjoyed using my ipod on it.  The bus did not have a bathroom on it, so We made one pit stop along the way, so that all the women could use the bathroom and all the men could have a cigarette. ;) We then continued on our way and made it to Istanbul around 4:30, 5pm.  When we got off the bus we booked our tickets to come back Thursday night and then proceeded to find the metro.  We made it to the transfer stop on the Metro and was supposed to take the Tramvay, I have never seen a Tramvay in my life, so sadly I couldn't find it, I was looking for another underground metro, but this is an above ground Trolley system, so ya know you live and learn :) We ended up taking a taxi to our hotel and got checked in and then went to go find some dinner.  The first night we found a nice restaurant for dinner.  We then walked around our hotel area and decided to sit down for some drinks at an outdoor restaurant, as the waiter seats us I realize that I know the couple sitting next to us from Bilkent.  So we had a nice chat with them, they had been to Istanbul many times so they gave us some tips.  All in all it was a nice start to the holiday.

Tuesday

This morning we got up bright and early and enjoyed the complimentary all you can eat breakfast.  Then left the hotel by around 9am to head to Hagia Sophia to beat the crowds, but then found out that because of the holiday Hagia Sophia wouldn't be open until 1pm, so we headed to the Blue Mosque.  This Mosque was beautiful, walking up to it was quite a sight and then when you got inside it was even better.  I won't bore you with all the history but if you would like to know more check out Blue Mosque.  From there we wandered around looking for the Grand Bazaar, we eventually asked a man where it was and he told us it was closed until Saturday for the holiday, so I guess I will have to go back to Istanbul to see the Grand Bazaar, and many other things ;) From there we headed to the Basilica Cistern.  What I found really interesting about the cistern was that no one knew it was underground for a long time until locals started cutting holes in their house floors and putting buckets underneath and pulling out fish.  It was quite a neat area.  From there we went and found some lunch and then headed FINALLY to Hagia Sophia.  This building was first built as a church but then converted over to a mosque but because of the different materials they used to build the church they had a hard time converting it to a mosque so there are still crosses and pictures of Jesus on the walls, very interesting.  After our busy morning we headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit and then went back to that area for dinner and found a nice restaurant that overlooked Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.  And of course after dinner we walked around and did some shopping.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we decided to head over to the more modern side of Istanbul.  Istanbul is the 5th largest city in the world, and it has all these sections.  There is the Asian side and the European side and then on the European side there is the old section and the more modern section.  It is a very interesting city.  Our hotel was on the European side in the old district, very close to all the historical sights.  But one day we decided to cross a bridge over to the modern side.  We crossed the Golden Horn and found a lot of fishermen over the bridge they were there all day fishing for these tiny fish.  The bridge we crossed had all of these restaurants under it.  It was pretty neat.  We then walked around a bit and found Taksim Square, the center square of the modern part.  A few weeks ago there was a suicide bomb on the square, so it was very interesting to walk there.  Everything was safe, there were no problems, I'm fine, don't worry.  But it was still neat to see a section of town that was just in the papers.  After a LONG walk around that area we found our way back to the bridge and ate a late lunch under the bridge, it was a great lunch of fish with an amazing view!  Then we headed back to the hotel because we decided to go on a dinner cruise for the evening so we wanted to rest up before that late evening.  The dinner cruise picked us up at our hotel at 7:30 and then took us to the boat and then we went up and down the Bosphorus Strait.  The cruise provided dinner and entertainment, I got to see my frist live belly dancer, she was amazing! and some other Turkish dancing.  We sat at a table full of people from the middle east.  A couple from Iran, one from Egypt and one from Jordan.  They mostly spoke Arabic but it was really neat  to be around so many different people from so many different countries.

Thursday

This morning we got up and went to breakfast and then checked out of our hotel room and left our luggage with the hotel.  Then we went to Topkapı Palace, on the way to the Palace we found some museums so we went to the Istanbul Archaeology Museums In this complex there were three museums.  My favorited was the Tiled Kiosk it was the third and final museum we went to.  It is the oldest non - religious building in Turkey.  It had the most amazing tiles on the walls I loved the patterns it made.  After we walked around the museums we went over to Topkapı Palace.  I don't have a lot of pictures from inside the Palace because a lot of the sections they ask you not to take pictures in.  But the view from the Palace was amazing and I have a lot of pictures from there.  The highlights of the palace were the treasury which had all of these amazing jewels.  Also the harem was really neat.  This was the royal's family living quarters and the entire palace was pretty plain I didn't notice the walls at all until we went into the harem.  The walls were all tiled and out the windows was an amazing view of the city.  I'm not sure if I would have minded being part of the harem.  After we were done looking through the palace.  We found a nice restaurant to eat lunch then we found a coffee shop to rest for a bit.  After that we walked around and window shopped then we ate dinner at a restaurant that over looked the Golden Horn and then window shopped a bit more because our bus didn't leave until midnight, so around 10pm we went back to the hotel and got our bags and then took the Tramvey to the Metro and found the bus station and got on the bus at midnight and slept all the way back to Ankara.  I got back home around 8am Friday morning.

Since then I have been resting and cleaning and doing laundry, now I need to work on planning for school this week.

**Side note, when looking at my pictures it may make more sense if you go into the set from Istanbul and look at them in order**

This is a map of the European Side of Istanbul I hope it helps you visualize my descriptions a bit more