At the house we were able to re-group and do some housekeeping type things - we had full access to the internet so we were able to upload all of our photos and update the blog, do laundry, and have some authentic home-cooked Turkish meals. Yasemin's brother even arranged for us to have dinner at a nice Turkish restaurant on our first night which had incredible views of the Asian side of the city. Istanbul is actually the only city in the world that is part of 2 continents, Europe and Asia. The European side is more developed and where most of the action occurs while the Asian side is a bit more quiet and a lot less expensive. Lots of people live on the Asian side and commute via a 20 minute ferry to the European side everyday - think of the Europe side as Manhattan and the Asian side as Brooklyn.
On our first full day in the city we were able to meet up with Sarah's friend, Erin, from San Diego. She and her brother had been traveling throughout Turkey for a few weeks and suggested that we all meet in the most popular part of the city, Sultanahmed. This is where the famous Sultan Ahmet Camii, or Blue Mosque, and Hagia Sophia are located. The Blue Mosque was simply breath-taking. It was absolutely massive and we learned that it was completed in 1616 under the rule of Sultan Ahmed I. It has 6 minarets (the towers surrounding it) which actually caused a lot of controversy - at the time, the only other mosque in the world to have 6 minarets was the Ka'aba in Mecca and it was considered an insult to Mecca. As a peace offering, Sultan Ahmed I paid to have a seventh minaret built in Mecca and to this day Ka'aba is the only mosque in the world with 7 minarets.
The inside of the Blue Mosque was just as impressive as the outside - the walls and domes were covered in blue tiles, hence the Blue Mosque. I found it very interesting that there were no religious symbols or pictures on the walls or stained-glass windows, just beautiful floral designs and patterns. As a sign of respect we had to take off our shoes and cover our shoulders and legs, it was just such a new and interesting experience for us. We were actually in Turkey during Ramadan so the Mosque was filled with people praying and most of the Muslims in the city fasted from sunrise to sunset everyday.
During our time in Istanbul we also visited the Hagia Sophia, a basilica right across from the Blue Mosque whose massive dome is supported without any columns. We were both so impressed by its architectural beauty. The Hagia Sophia is very close to the famous Grand Bazaar, so we could not pass up the opportunity to bargain for some jewelry and Turkish pottery. Erin introduced us to her friend, Jordan, who lives in Istanbul and he showed us around another famous part of old Istanbul, Taksim. Taksim Square is packed with tourists, as it is filled with restaurants and shopping. We went to dinner with Jordan a few times and he took us to some bars to show us the Turkish nightlife. We also managed to squeeze in watching an NFL game which excited Sarah, as she is a huge fan of American football.
One day we took a ferry on the Bosphorus up to the Black Sea where we stopped in a little town that had incredible views of the Sea. We also checked out Kadikoy, part of the Asian side of Istanbul, where there were street markets with fish right out of the water and tons of fresh produce. Finally we visited the Topkapi Palace which houses one of the world's largest diamonds, an impressive 86-carats.
We could not have had a more pleasant stay in Istanbul. We got to see so much of both the European and Asian sides of the city, and it was so nice to relax and re-charge our batteries for the next leg of our journey. We would like to give a special thanks to Yasemin and her family for having us and for making us feel so comfortable and welcome. We truly felt at home in Istanbul.
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