Istanbul

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I got to spend two days in Istanbul. It is a typical city with all of the usual hustle and bustle. I visited the famous Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar has something like 4,000 shops! A lot of it is the same stuff after a while, but it was still fun to walk around. The shopkeepers try so hard to get you to come in their shops. I found that it’s better to just say I’m from England or Australia because they mark up the prices so much more for Americans and they can be kind of rude. I was glad I had guys with me too because some girls I talked to said that they were getting catcalls the whole time and just found it uncomfortable to be there.

I went to a couple hookah bars which were really fun. One of them was open 24 hours and my friends and I stayed until 6 am and then watched the sun rise. I drank tons of Turkish tea, or cay (pronounced chai) as it’s called in Turkey. It was so good! They drink it all day, so, of course, I had to too. I also bought some at the Spice Bazaar to bring home. The Spice Bazaar was kind of like the Grand Bazaar but just with spices, teas, oils, Turkish Delights (candy), and a huge section with animals (turtles, little chicks, dogs, fish, rabbits, and even leaches!). We ended up in this one shop and the guy there was so funny. He really liked my friend Tia and kept flirting with her, saying the most hilarious things. I ended up buying some cay, some apple tea (tourist tea as I heard one guy call it), a box of Turkish Delights, and some spices and I think it was all less than $30.

I thought Istanbul was really fun. The only thing that I didn’t do, and wish I had, was go to a Turkish bath. A couple of my friends went and said they spent four hours getting washed, going into a sauna, a hot tub, and getting an oil massage. Oh well…looks like I have something to go back for. 😊

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Photos

Outside the Blue Mosque
With Turkish flag too!

Inside the Blue Mosque
Tourist are only allowed to go as far as the fence I'm leaning on. I could see a couple people praying on the other side, but there were definitely more tourist than worshipers, plus it wasn't prayer time.

Lunch time!
Lunch at the Grand Bazaar. It was similar to a Greek gyro and SO GOOD. I ate a couple more over the next two days :)