I’ve been to Istanbul several times over the years and have always really enjoyed walking around the International Spice market and walking around. Before Kieran went for the first time (without me), I described it to him as “sensory overload” and he agreed that my definition was quite suiting. Other than the Spice Market and walking around the bazaar, I hadn’t done much of the sightseeing in Istanbul like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace. We decided that we’d go out and have a long walk around the city and stop by the market to do a bit of shopping.
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| We found this staircase outside of the port - it's so pretty! |
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| Some of the spices and how they are displayed - yum! |
The walk was about 45 minutes over to the area where the Blue Mosque is and we passed by the Egyption Spice Market on the way. We chatted a bit, as per usual, but I was reciting some fun facts that I learned about the night before on my “Night out in Istanbul” tour. The tour guide told the group that Istanbul has 17 million inhabitants and 5,000 mosques. When I raised my hand and asked if he meant in all of Turkey and he quickly replied with "no" – that’s just in Istanbul. If you ever go to Istanbul, you’ll understand how 17 million people live in one city….one on top of another! One of the most crowded cities I've ever traveled to, to say the least!
“Yesterday, I sat outside the Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque), with the woman I love, eating corn on the cob, trying to figure out a way to give the stray dog who sat with us a drink of water. It made me think how even though we get blasé about it sometimes, its days like yesterday that make us do what we do.”
Backtracking our way out of the city and not far off of the carpet store, we found a restaurant off the beaten path with an outside patio, which is something I always look for when the weather is nice. Fresh orange juice was promptly delivered to the table and shortly thereafter, we received a beautiful platter of assorted Mediterranean appetizers including tzatziki (of course), hummus, red pepper dip and a few others that I don’t have a name for, but they were spectacular as well – all served with fresh pita bread. Then we shared an assortment of meats with lamb and chicken and port with roasted peppers and other vegetables. The food here is unbeatable as I’ve said a million times before!
Unfortunately, Kieran and I both love sweets and to eat and you can’t beat some Turkish Delight treats! We went into a store that Kieran had visited on past trips to Istanbul and the guy remembered exactly who he was. He asked us what we liked and, of course, we both said everything. The gentleman put together an assortment of his finest treats, all five pounds of them! Not only are they tasty, but they are beautiful as well – so pretty you almost don’t want to eat them, but of course, I did…and Kieran helped…sorta ;)
When we arrived at the Topkapi palace, the line was very long so we decided to head to the Blue Mosque, only to find out that it was prayer time so we could only enter the courtyard area, which was amazing all on its own. It’s called the Blue Mosque because of the tiles coating the walls and their blue colors and patterns. From the courtyard area, it was very impressive, so I can imagine that the inside is breathtaking. Since we weren't going to wait around for the mosque to open, we walked out the back area of the courtyard and found a man selling corn on the cob. If you aren't a street food person or have never tried it, corn on the cob is one of the best street foods! We sat outside with a beautiful view of the mosque and ate our corn while listening to the prayer time (not the most soothing of sounds) and hanging out with two stray dogs chillin’ in the sunshine. Sometimes on ships, you forget how awesome your life is and we become jaded. Kieran said it perfectly on his Facebook status:
“Yesterday, I sat outside the Sultan Ahmet Camii (Blue Mosque), with the woman I love, eating corn on the cob, trying to figure out a way to give the stray dog who sat with us a drink of water. It made me think how even though we get blasé about it sometimes, its days like yesterday that make us do what we do.”
The Blue Mosque Courtyard
Kieran's new Turkish friend!
After basking in the sunshine on a park bench in the square, we meandered around town for a bit longer and then started thinking about what we wanted to do for lunch. Along the way, we began looking in the window of a Turkish Rug store and the guy came out with his calculator in hand ready to bargain for one that we had been admiring. Before we knew it, he had convinced us to come inside and down the flight of winding stairs to reach the bottom level, a room drenched in more rugs than any palace could handle. The plopped us on a wooden bench on one wall, stuck a cup of Turkish apple tea in our hands and began the flying carpet demonstration. They literally throw the carpets in the air and with a flick of the wrist it spins before floating gracefully to the floor. It really is quite a display! They were all beautiful but the prices, even after lots of bargaining were around $600 for a tiny little rug. We thought on it for a few minutes and decided that we weren’t “in love” with any of them and it wasn’t worth all that money if we didn’t HAVE to have it! Finally, we made our way out of the store by telling them that I was hungry and I’m very grouchy if I haven’t eaten – so we’d talk about it over lunch and then come back. We never did make it back, but we did make it to lunch!
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| On our walk, we went through a park and found a Sister Squirrel - always an Alpha Gam!! |
Backtracking our way out of the city and not far off of the carpet store, we found a restaurant off the beaten path with an outside patio, which is something I always look for when the weather is nice. Fresh orange juice was promptly delivered to the table and shortly thereafter, we received a beautiful platter of assorted Mediterranean appetizers including tzatziki (of course), hummus, red pepper dip and a few others that I don’t have a name for, but they were spectacular as well – all served with fresh pita bread. Then we shared an assortment of meats with lamb and chicken and port with roasted peppers and other vegetables. The food here is unbeatable as I’ve said a million times before!
Unfortunately, Kieran and I both love sweets and to eat and you can’t beat some Turkish Delight treats! We went into a store that Kieran had visited on past trips to Istanbul and the guy remembered exactly who he was. He asked us what we liked and, of course, we both said everything. The gentleman put together an assortment of his finest treats, all five pounds of them! Not only are they tasty, but they are beautiful as well – so pretty you almost don’t want to eat them, but of course, I did…and Kieran helped…sorta ;)
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