As you can tell, I am behind again. Time flies when you are having fun on vacation. I have 2 countries to update on! Quickly, we arrived safe and sound in Spain today (well, by the time this gets posted it will be yesterday).... More on that in a bit (and by bit I might mean a few days).
First, I have to finish the Turkey posts. Monday-Wednesday was busy in Istanbul as we had to make up for a few days missed due to bad weather. On Monday we headed out with Mel for her Turkish lessons. She dropped us off near there and we headed to this gorgeous little place called menagerie for breakfast. We ordered a Turkish breakfast and had some delicious food. Fresh tomatoes, olives (my fav), cheese, fresh honey (with the honey comb) and more delicious food. It was made even better by the amazing view of the Bosphorus. It was a chilly morning, but we sat inside and enjoyed the view.
Mark and Emily enjoying the meal. Know we know where Emily gets her finger sucking from.
Here is a neat picture Mark took from the patio.
After breakfast we walked along the Bosphorus. It was a beautiful morning. We saw the boats and fisherman. We caught the boat back to Kabatas and hopped on a quick Bosphorus tour. Our tour was only an hour, but you can do a much longer one that goes all the way out to the Black Sea (something to add to the list to do next time). Still we got to see some great sites from the Boat.
The Dolmabahce Palace from the Bosphorous
The bridge - well one of them
Emily enjoying the boat cruise
Following the tour we headed down to the old town. Most things are closed on Monday's, but we wanted to check it out for when we returned the following day. We ended up having a delicious lunch and then toured the park between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. We toured inside the Blue Mosque. It was quite beautiful, but it was difficult to get great shots of the blue mosaics because of all the wires hanging from the ceiling. Still it was a neat experience. I was really impressed with how welcoming the mosque is. It is used 5 times a day for prayer, but in between it is open to the public. There are very clear instructions on how to go in to see the mosque, etc. Covering up for women is optional, but preferred.
The Blue Mosque from the outside
Emily in the Blue Mosque
The inside of the Mosque
Tuesday we headed back to the old town. This time Mel and her Dad (who had stopped in after his trip to Sochi) joined us. Our first stop was the Grand Bazaar. We had planned to purchase just a backgammon board. Mel helped Mark at a neat little place and Mark got a new Board and we felt like we didn't get ripped off to badly. We ended up getting a bunch of things. The time of year was a good time to go as you could tell it wasn't as busy and as a result the prices were better. We had a fantastic meal with Mel and Andre and Andre even took care of Emily for a good part of the meal so we could eat.
The Grand Bazaar
Fancy tray...
Tada - Turkish Coffee!
Mini fancy tray...
Tada - Turkish Delight!!
After lunch Mel and Andre headed home as the kids get off school early on Tuesdays and we headed back to the old town. We headed into the Hagia Sophia. This was one of the highlights for me. It was so neat to see the old Christian decoration painted over when it converted to a Mosque. Now it is neither a mosque or church, but just a museum. The building as it stands was over 1000 years old! More pics... today I made Mark carry Emily and I played tourist so that we could have a few pics of Emily with her Dad. Besides, Mark was always complaining about carrying all the stuff.
Hagia Sophia
Emily and Mark in Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia
Cross painted over with Muslim decoration
Partially uncovered Christian mosaic
We finished off the day by walking through the park for the Castle. It was beautiful (pics below), but it made for a ton of walking. By the time we got home we (or at least I) was exhausted. What better way to spend a Tuesday after walking around Istanbul, by joining Mel and some of her teammates for a "Mel" workout. Given the fact that I am still in "pregnancy shape" it perhaps wasn't the best idea. When I was done, I kept thinking about Mike's blog post on the "binge workout".
Emily and Dad in gardens by palace
Wednesday was a rough day. I think I overdid it on Tuesday and as a result I was not feeling the greatest. However, we didn't want to waste the day so I sucked it up and we headed to Istanbul Modern. I hadn't been in a Museum since I went to the National Art Museum in Ottawa when I was a kid! (Perhaps I was in some other small museum since then, but it must have not been that exciting as I don't remember it). The Istanbul Modern was really neat. We had a wonderful lunch in the restaurant which also had an amazing (the best yet) view of the city and the Bosphorus. Unfortunately we couldn't take any pics in the Museum, but there are some pics of the view from the restaurant below.
The "Golden Horn" - view from Istanbul Modern (you can see Haiga Sophia and the Blue Mosque)
Restaurant at Istanbul Modern
We finished off the day by hitting a kufur. This was probably a highlight for Mark. This is the Turkish wet shave. Mark went in while Emily and I sat outside. Needless to say I was feeling ripped off. Emily was the highlight of the street. Every 2 minutes someone else was stopping by to smile and pinch her cheeks. She was quite the hit. Actually, she was the hit in Turkey. I think there are more pictures of Emily taken by strangers than we took (not that this is saying much, we are terrible at taking photos). If we could have charged to take her photo and pinch her cheeks we could have paid for out trip. Emily of course loved it. She smiled and cooed at almost everyone. Quite the hit. While Emily stopped traffic on the street Mark was inside getting his "wet shave" - I put this in quotes, because it seemed more like a 45 minute spa facial/massage than a "wet shave". Every time I looked in he was getting something else - shave, scalp massage, neck massage... needless to say I was jealous. And when it was all said and done it cost him a whopping 7 Turkish Lira - which equates to approximately FOUR DOLLARS! I think I would pay $125 at a good spa in Canada... It was the only time I wished I had a bit more facial hair.
Mark at kufur
Emily waiting for Dad outside kufur - she might have gotten extra attention this day because we put the bow in her hair and put her in the Turkey t-shirt from Mel :-)
We were sad that it was Wednesday night as we had such a great time hanging out with the Wriggs and touring Istanbul. It is such a great city and Mike, Mel and the kids were amazing hosts. Mark played a game of backgammon with Lucy, while Oscar rolled the dice for Mark. Lucy did fantastic and it came down to the last role in which Lucy lost by one. We told her not to be sad as Mark gammoned Mike the first time he played him :-)
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