Alright everyone. I just got back from Turkey. And as my title suggests, it was amazing!! I seriously cannot believe how much I loved Turkey. I want to go back. Pretty much ASAP. So let me just say now that my Turkey trip is going to take a series of posts to blog about. So I'm breaking it up by day. This entry will cover the voyage over there and then our first day.
Our flight left from Tel Aviv in the late afternoon. Our flight was delayed like an hour or so, which apparently is normal when dealing with Israeli travel. Here is Lee and I on our way to the gate!
The flight was like a 2ish hour flight. And Turkish airlines are very nice! They fed us a meal and everything! Pretty crazy for such a short flight, right? We eventually landed in Istanbul, as seen below. From left to right is Jen, Megan, myself, Brennan, and Claire. 
That night we just went to our hotel and got ready for the next day full of adventure. We started our day in the morning with our tour guide Negyp, who stayed with us throughout the remainder of the trip. We started out by going to the hippodrome and the blue mosque. Let me just say that Istanbul is seriously beautiful. It is on the coast and the water is blue with the blue skies and then the city itself is just beautiful and so clean and well kept. I was very impressed! Istanbul covers both Europe and Asia with the bosphorous dividing them. We spent all of our time on the European side. Here is a picture of me in front of the blue mosque:
Let me just say that the blue mosque cannot be justified in any pictures. The inside of it was just insanely ornate and gorgeous. I could not believe my eyes. I probably could have just laid on the ground and stared at all of the walls and such for hours on end. But unfortunately we did not have the time. When I go back to Istanbul, I will have to do that.
Let me just say that the blue mosque cannot be justified in any pictures. The inside of it was just insanely ornate and gorgeous. I could not believe my eyes. I probably could have just laid on the ground and stared at all of the walls and such for hours on end. But unfortunately we did not have the time. When I go back to Istanbul, I will have to do that. Inside of the Hippodrome (A hippodrome is where they had chariot races, FYI) were a bunch of obelisks- which were gifts from Egpyt back in the day. Here is my Turkey roommate Danielle and I in front of one of them. By the way Danielle is freakin awesome! My time in Turkey was definitely much better because of having her. Love her!
We then headed over to the Topkopi palace, which was insane. On the way, Loie and I got a quick shot of the Haggai Sophia- which we didn't actually go inside until later in the trip because it was closed that day. But here is the pic:
The Topkopi palace was so awesome. There was a museum there showing off a bunch of precious gems, including an 86 carat diamond!! Crazy!! Everything was so cool and full of luxury. The palace also has an amazing view of the bosphorous, which was ever so picturesque that day thanks to the amazing weather, even though it was slightly chilly. Here is a pic of me in front of it:
Afterwards we went down under the city into a cistern that was so cool! It was ornately decorated and kind of eery as well. They had this creepy music playing the whole time and then there were just a ton of columns and such. It's kind of hard to explain, but hey here is a picture of it... once again the pictures don't do it justice. It was hard to photograph because it was so dark down there. From left to right is Madison, Amanda, Loie, myself and Amy.
We then went to the grand bazaar, which is basically just a huge market place with every possible thing to buy. Souvenir wise at least. It was fun. All of the Turkish men call out to the beautiful American women- so hey at least you get to feel good about yourself! ;) I didn't really buy anything because I'm not one for souvenirs, but it was still fun to look around and get a little but of unstructured free time. Here is a pic of Dylan and I at the Bazaar: Oh and P.S.- we go by Grylan. haha
We ended our day with a cruise down the bosphorous, which was soooooooo incredible!! And it was so beautiful. I couldn't get over what an incredibly blessed life I have. We seriously lived like kings in Turkey. It was so intense. To sum up my feelings on Istanbul, I present you with this picture:
Life is good. So. So. Good.
We then headed over to the Topkopi palace, which was insane. On the way, Loie and I got a quick shot of the Haggai Sophia- which we didn't actually go inside until later in the trip because it was closed that day. But here is the pic:
The Topkopi palace was so awesome. There was a museum there showing off a bunch of precious gems, including an 86 carat diamond!! Crazy!! Everything was so cool and full of luxury. The palace also has an amazing view of the bosphorous, which was ever so picturesque that day thanks to the amazing weather, even though it was slightly chilly. Here is a pic of me in front of it:
Afterwards we went down under the city into a cistern that was so cool! It was ornately decorated and kind of eery as well. They had this creepy music playing the whole time and then there were just a ton of columns and such. It's kind of hard to explain, but hey here is a picture of it... once again the pictures don't do it justice. It was hard to photograph because it was so dark down there. From left to right is Madison, Amanda, Loie, myself and Amy. 
We then went to the grand bazaar, which is basically just a huge market place with every possible thing to buy. Souvenir wise at least. It was fun. All of the Turkish men call out to the beautiful American women- so hey at least you get to feel good about yourself! ;) I didn't really buy anything because I'm not one for souvenirs, but it was still fun to look around and get a little but of unstructured free time. Here is a pic of Dylan and I at the Bazaar: Oh and P.S.- we go by Grylan. haha
We ended our day with a cruise down the bosphorous, which was soooooooo incredible!! And it was so beautiful. I couldn't get over what an incredibly blessed life I have. We seriously lived like kings in Turkey. It was so intense. To sum up my feelings on Istanbul, I present you with this picture:
Life is good. So. So. Good. More to come soon!
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