I just got back from a trip with 5 friends to Istanbul. Funny enough, it was my first European trip since I moved to London (which is a little shocking....I should be traveling more). Anyway, it was an exhausting trip and nothing like I imagined. Here I am getting ready for the plane to take off. It was just a short 3 1/2 hour flight from London. However, I had to leave my house at 4 am in the morning to catch the flight!
Here is a shot flying into Istanbul. You can see all the barges as we fly over the Sea of Marmara.
After we landed, we took a taxi ride to the hotel. There seemed to be an election going on and there were flags and posters everywhere for candidates.
After checking in, we didn't have much daylight left. We decided to head to the Blue Mosque. It was built between 1601 and 1616. The crazy thing about the city is that there are mosques every where and you can see them across the city as they are usually much larger then any other buildings.
Here is a shot close up. You can enter any of the mosques for free. You only have to remove your shoes and women have to wear a headscarf.
Here are a few shots from inside. The disappointing part was the hundreds of wires hanging from the roof. The wires support lighting for the enormous space, but they take away from the architecture. And they don't allow flash photography so the pictures are not that sharp.
Here is a close up of one of the hanging lights over the enormous floor.
After we visited the Blue Mosque, it was night time and we found a local restaurant to eat. The one thing that we received at every meal was this over sized pita bread that was delicious to eat. We would get about 4 of them during each meal and by the end of the trip, we all said we needed to go through bread detox!
We ended up going to bed pretty early so we could do a lot the next day.
Here is a shot flying into Istanbul. You can see all the barges as we fly over the Sea of Marmara.
After we landed, we took a taxi ride to the hotel. There seemed to be an election going on and there were flags and posters everywhere for candidates.
After checking in, we didn't have much daylight left. We decided to head to the Blue Mosque. It was built between 1601 and 1616. The crazy thing about the city is that there are mosques every where and you can see them across the city as they are usually much larger then any other buildings.
Here is a shot close up. You can enter any of the mosques for free. You only have to remove your shoes and women have to wear a headscarf.
Here are a few shots from inside. The disappointing part was the hundreds of wires hanging from the roof. The wires support lighting for the enormous space, but they take away from the architecture. And they don't allow flash photography so the pictures are not that sharp.
Here is a close up of one of the hanging lights over the enormous floor.
After we visited the Blue Mosque, it was night time and we found a local restaurant to eat. The one thing that we received at every meal was this over sized pita bread that was delicious to eat. We would get about 4 of them during each meal and by the end of the trip, we all said we needed to go through bread detox!
We ended up going to bed pretty early so we could do a lot the next day.
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