In case you were wondering.....

More about what Warsaw looks like....check out this video!

http://vimeo.com/51147157

Istanbul, Turkey Part II

We spent our next day in Istanbul on our own exploring the city.  We started off heading to the Grand Bazaar market.  This place was truly amazing with over 4,000 little shops within the market.  Most of the shopping in here is for tourists and it can be a bit overwhelming as the sales folks are quite agressive and yelling at you through the Bazaar telling you they have "the best deal" for you.  After walking through the Bazaar we were feeling a bit of sensory overload and headed to the Spice Market.  This market is named because hundreds of years ago traders would stop through the Ottoman empire and trade spices from all over the world in this space.  There are still lots of spices sold there today, but also many other goods.  It was super fun to watch the locals interact with one another and bargain with each other.  The Spice Market sold pretty much any kind of food you could think of.  At one point, Tom and I stumbled through the "pet section" of the market and could not get over it...there were live chickens and rabbits being sold out of cardboard boxes, puppies for sale just inches away, a large variety of lizards that I had never before seen, and, our favorite - live leeches (for any medical ailments).  The market was packed full of people and you literally had to push your way through the crowds to move anywhere.  We didn't get any good photos in the markets as it was literally wall to wall people and a bit difficult to do anything else but take in the market itself.

We decided we had had enough of the crowds and spent the late afternoon on a boat ride on the Bosphorus crossing over from the European side to the Asian side of Turkey.  The boat ride was great and we got to see a number of beautiful palaces that were built all along the water many years ago. 

We spent our evening in the Taksim neghborhood, a trendy area that is filled with more locals.  And, we had dinner on the top of a tall building with a magnificent view.  We could see over the entire historic district of the city which was illuminated beautifully.

We spent our final day in Istanbul doing some last minute shopping and relaxing.  All in all, it was a wonderful weekend and we felt like we were swept away to a completely different world.  If you have the chance, we highly recommend a trip to Istanbul!

Cruising on the Bosphorus

A beautiful old palace on the water

Another palace on the water

And, another palace on the water

The Asian side coastline

A bridge from Europe to Asia

Enjoying our boat ride

Perfect timing to take in the sunset!

Our gorgeous view over Istanbul for dinner

Istanbul, Turkey - Part I

Istanbul had always been at the top of our never ending "to visit" list....so we were thrilled to spend a long weekend there in mid-September.  It was a truly amazing experience as it seemed like a world away in terms of the culture and people.  Tom fell in love with the ancient history from the days when this land was Constantinople and ruled by the Ottoman Empire.  And, I fell in love with the visual imagery....the colors, patterns, tiles and architecture.

We weren't quite sure what to expect prior to going and Istanbul far exceeded our expectations.  For those that don't know Turkey is the only country that crosses both Europe and Asia.  99% of the country is Muslim and it is a HUGE city with over 17 million people living in greater Istanbul!  Which leads to some really horrible traffic at all hours of the day.

We left Warsaw's crisp fall weather for a weekend in the high 70's and plenty of sunshine.  Our first full day in Istanbul we went on a guided tour of all of the ancient sites.  We saw the Topkapi Palace, a gorgeous palace that still stands from the days when a Sultan ruled the Ottoman Empire.  Next we toured the Hagia Sofia, a Catholic church, turned Muslim Mosque, turned present day museum.  This building was incredible and the details throughout were so cool to see.  We stopped in the middle of the day for a traditional quick Turkish lunch, meatballs and fava bean salad...quite good!  Our afternoon included a trip to the Basilica Cistern, one of a series of cisterns that was built in the 6th centruy to supply water to the city.  Tom loved checking it out and thinking about how such a complex underground strucutre was constructed so many years ago.  Our final stop was to the famous Blue Mosque.  This mosque gets its nickname from the multitude of blue tiles throughout the interior.  The mosque is a very popular tourist site but is still in use.  Therefore, we were required to remove our shoes before entering and remain very quiet while inside.

After a long day of sighteseeing we went to a negihborhood steakhouse that was filled with only Turks for dinner.  There was no menu, we were simply brought "the usual" which was fantastic...especially considering good red meat can be hard to come by in Poland!

Delicious fresh fruit upon arrival

Cheers to vacation!

Tom thinks everything is a-okay!

The view from our 29th floor hotel room overlooking the bridge crossing the Bosphorus going from the European side to the Asian side 

Overlooking the Bosphorus

Inside the Palace walls

The palace library

Inside Hagia Sofia

Ancient mosaics telling the story of christianity

the view from the balcony

Tom trying for Turkish good luck by attempting to twis his hand all the way around his thumb

 

Blue Mosque

Turkish Lunch!

Inside the Cistern

Cistern columns were reused from destryoed buildings instead of rebuilding them to save time

In front of the Blue Mosque

Beautiful details in the blue mosque

Freshly squeezed pomegranate juice

The entrance to the Grand Bazaar

A Turkish tradition....baklava

Who knew there were so many types?  even chocolate!