My Adventure: February 2011

Istanbul, Turkey is only an hour and a half flight from Athens. I never would have dreamed of going to Turkey and I am so thankful to have experienced such a different world.

Enjoyed my first alcoholic beverage on a plane hehe

There was about 15 of us a in group that left Athens for Turkey on a Thursday night. We got a delicious meal on the short plane ride.

Once we arrived we had to purchase these little red tokens in order to get on the tram. It took us like half and hour to figure it out and exchange euro for "leera" (how they pronounce their currency).

It was awesome that 2 leera = 1 euro!

It took us over and hour to get to and find out hostel, The stray cat hostel haha.

It smelled like cat pee and there was literally cats outside and a few inside, but this wasn't too much of a surprise considering all the stray animals in Athens.

We arrived at about 11 pm and i crashed in my little cot, in my jeans haha. But apparently, others went out for a drink but I was knocked out.

Friday morning, a small group of us set out to see the one and only "Blue Mosque". I have seen it in magazines and knew this was very important to Istanbul. I quickly learned that they call it "Sultan Ahmed". It was built between 1609-1616.

Can you say WOW?

The courtyard

Reminded me of Aladdin :)

Architecture: It has 6 Minarets, hard to see them all in one pic! ^

Design is a culmination of two time periods: Ottoman & Byzantine.

beautiful details.

It wasn't the most gorgeous day, but my pictures don't do justice for how beautifully designed the mosque was.

Look here to see some great photos! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque

Next up: Basilica Cistern.

To me, this was a diamond in the rough experience because I had not heard much about it & it is underground!

Again, it was hard to take pictures because of the lighting but it was so neat down there. This one might have been my favorite sight.

Basically, the cistern provided a water filtration system of The Palace of Constantinople and other buildings in 1453 and into modern times. Its about 450 ft by 215 ft.

There is 336 marble columns which are 30 ft high arranged in perfect measurements.

I think the coolest part is that the cistern is surrounded by a fire brick wall with a thickness of 4 meters! Water ain't goin' nowhere ;)

Here is Medusa, my friends.

They put her upside down because if you look at her in the eye you will turn to stone!

Cool fact: This cistern was used in a scene in "From Russia with Love" James Bond. But I never saw it!

Maybe you have :)

Next was the Hagia Sophia.

Mosque turned into a museum

Cross eyed cat just chillin in the mosque

Had to wear these inside so we bought some turkish scarves :)

On Saturday Night, I really wanted to see the Whirling Dervishes which are a cultural dance in Turkey. However, we found Turkish Dance Night that seemed way neater & it definitely was one of my favorite things of the trip. It took place at the Hodjapasha cultural center which held about 30 people so it was unique :)