Istanbul 2

We love Istanbul. We are staying in an apartment in a bohemian, hipster neighborhood (cihangir) filled with cafés and stray cats amidst the narrow cobblestone alleys that zig zag up and down the hills. It's nice to have our own place and not be in a hotel at this point in the trip. Yesterday we used the washing machine, which was a little more of an adventure than we bargained for. The buttons were in Turkish, so to figure out how to set the cycle and turn it on, I yelled out Turkish words and spelled them to Allie who was in the next room typing them in to google translate because there was no wifi signal in front of the washer haha!

 

You can see how we could have gotten confused.

Today was a sightseeing extravaganza. We started by grabbing a museum pass and making a quick trip to the Archaeological Museum. Then we went to Topkapi Palace, home of the Ottoman sultans. It was crazy opulent. Our favorite places were the living quarters of the royal family, the massive kitchen, and a hall of the palace clocks and watches. Surprisingly cool.

 Allie and I would be okay with working from this office.

We then went to the Hagia Sophia, and 7th grade me in world history class was nerding out. It is incredible and massive, and I loved it. Pictures can't do it justice.

A basilica during Justinian times (built 5th century AD), it was later converted to a mosque, but the ancient mosaics of Christian figures remain.

We took a break for a kebab lunch, then went to the Basilica Cistern, a contemporary of the Hagia Sophia. It was lost for several centuries and refound in the 16th century after some citizens noted that if they dropped a bucket into a hole below their basement, it came back with water and sometimes fish! Haha. It was fully restored within the past 20 years, and it is magical.

A surprising highlight.

We next walked down the hippodrome (walkway previously home to chariot races, marked by obelisks) to the Blue Mosque. This is another massive mosque but it stands out due to its perfect geometry of seemingly stacked domes and walls of beautiful tiles, often in blue.

 

We left this area of the city by taking the tram then the old funicular, the second oldest subway in the world (after the London Underground) to get to Istikal Caddesi, a pedestrian street closer to our neighborhood. We got some Turkish Delight, a famous sweet. It was good, but not as perfect as a melt-in-your-mouth version we were served on our blue cruise. We were so spoiled.

 

Piles of Turkish Delight. 

We ended the day by getting dinner at a trendy cafe in our neighborhood and recounting some of the funny moments from out trip. Like the time on the blue cruise that Allie was stung by a tiny jellyfish (we all were--they're all over), and she screamed "JELLYFISH!!!" so loudly on an otherwise perfectly quiet morning that it echoed across the cove!! The Aussie man on our cruise laughed sooooo hard and recounted it repeatedly; I think the incident may have been the highlight of his trip!