Merhaba, and welcome! Cody and I had an absolutely fantastic trip to Turkey. The weather was wonderful, the people were fantastically friendly and we couldn’t have asked to be surrounded by any more culture and history. Below, are some pictures from our trip. Yes, I know there are just over a hundred here, but if it makes you feel better, I came home with over 600, and narrowed them down to what you see here. I’ve put them in the order of our travels, and I will add commentary to sort of “walk you through” our vacation. I hope you enjoy our pictures as much as we enjoyed being in this wonderful country.
Day 1 – We arrived in Turkey in the afternoon, and immediately set out to see some sights. These pictures are the view from our hotel room. If you look closely at the second picture, you will see the water of the Bosphorus Straights.
Our first sight seeing adventure was across the Golden Horn (the body of water in the below pictures) to visit the Galata Tower. The tower was built to provide a defense mechanism for the city. The views at the top of the tower are really breath-taking. In the second picture, you can see 2 mosques, 1 of which is the Haghia Sophia (pronounced: Aya Sophia). The third picture is the Blue Mosque and the fourth picture is the Haghia Sophia.
Day 2 – After a good nights rest, we set out to visit the Blue Mosque and the Haghia Sophia. The Blue Mosque is considered the 2nd greatest mosque in the world, and is still a functioning mosque. The Haghia Sophia was originally built in about 537 as a Christian church, but was converted to a mosque when Islam became the dominant religion. The Haghia Sophia is no longer a functioning mosque and is considered a museum.
Here we are at the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque is unbelievably breath-taking. There is nothing in the U.S. (in my opinion) that can begin to compare. The artistry is magnificent, with most surfaces covered with intricate mosaic tile work, or beautiful paintings. The sheer size of the mosque is overwhelming as well. I hope these pictures can begin to show the incredible beauty of the Blue Mosque.
Here we are at the Haghia Sophia. One point to mention, is that Istanbul is absolutely filled with cats. Cats don’t appear to be house pets, but rather just inhabitants of the city, who run free. They are incredibly friendly and well looked after. Every time I turned around, Cody was petting or playing with one of the locals!
As I mentioned before, the Haghia Sophia was originally built as a Christian Church. Below are some of the only remaining pieces from the original Christian Church. The lambs are to represent the apostles.
Below are some mosaic frescos that are in the Haghia Sophia. These frescos are made up of tiny pieces of tile! The artistry is just amazing!
After visiting the mosques, we checked out the Grand Bazaar, which has been in existence for 1,000s of years! Today, it is really more or less a tourist trap, but still, it was a lot of fun to visit!
As we were walking through the city, we came across this marker. I’ll let you read the sign in the picture, which is really pretty cool. We were surprised that there wasn’t any other “fanfare” for this marker, other than the sign posted next to it.
Day 3 – We met up with Cody’s parents, Risa & Brent, and took a ferry boat ride up the Bosphorus Straights. The Bosphorus Straights are what separate the European side of Istanbul from the Asian side of Istanbul. It is also what marks the division of the European & Asian continents. The Bosphorus Straights empty into the Black Sea. We road the ferry boat up the straights to one of the last ports before the Black Sea, where we hung out for a few hours before returning to Istanbul. Below are pictures of some of the incredible houses we saw along the way.
1 – view of the city of Istanbul from the ferry boat. The tower sticking up in the picture is the Galata Tower, which we visited on our first day.
2 & 3 – Dolmabache Palace – it was built in the late 1800’s during the decline of the Ottoman period. The Sultan’s moved from the Topkapi Place to here. When the Sultanship was disolved, the palace became a Presidential Palace. Ataturk (the first president) died in this palace.
4 – the Fortress of Europe
5-7 – beautiful houses and waterside town
8 - Cody & me at the dock. You can sea the Black Sea over Cody’s shoulder.
9 - Ataturk (father of the Turks). He was the first president of Turkey, and the people revere him. There are stautes of him all of Turkey.
After returning from our trip up the Bosphorus, we checked out a local fish market.
Day 4 – We hoped a ferry/train/bus combo to the Southern city of Selcuk. It was a day filled with all kinds of surprises, and Cody swearing to only travel by plane in foreign countries from now on, but in the end, we made it to our fantastically beautiful hotel and enjoyed a nice evening. Across from our hotel was St. John’s Basillica (picture 1). John the Baptist came to the region and built this church, where he continued to spread the word of Christianity. The second picture is a castle that is directly to the right of St. John’s Basicllica. It is undergoing excavation, so we never found out what it was for.
Day 5 – the ancient Roman city of Efes (Ephesus). It is thought that this city dates back as far (and maybe farther) to 200 BC. The ruins were incredible. The 2nd picture shows the smaller of 2 stadiums. This stadium was used for political meetings.
Below are mosaic tile floors in some “middle class” homes.
Below are frescos and mosaics in what is called the “Terrace Houses” which is where the wealthy elite lived.
Below are pictures of the library. The 3rd picture shows one of the statues, that is in the library.
Ruins from the Church of the Virgin Mary. It is believe that Peter & John brought the Virgin Mary to Efes after the crucifixion of Jesus, and this is where she lived out her days.
The large stadium. Gladiator fights and other theatrical performances were held here. This is where Paul gave his famous sermon against Paganism as well. The Stadium holds about 40,000 people.
Days 6 & 7 – We took a ferry to the Greek island of Samos and spent a relaxing few days. The island is very small and the town was so peaceful and beautiful.
Day 9 – Today we visited the Topkapi Palace, which is where the Sultans lived until the Dolmbache Palace was built in the late 1800s. The Palace is enourmous, and is beautifully decorated.
1 – Entrance to Topkapi Palace
2 – the pathway to the Harem
3 – 5 – mosaics decorating the walls in the Harem.
6 – 11 – Lavishly decorated rooms of the Harem
12 – One of the many fountains and ponds in the palace.
That afternoon, we visited what in my opinion was one of the best places we visited in Istanbul. We visited the Basillica Cistern. This cistern was created by the Romans to house the city’s supply of water. When the Ottomans invaded, the Romans didn’t want the Ottomans to find the water supply, so the cistern was walled up. The Ottomans had no knowledge of the existence of the cistern until they learned that the people of the city were fetching water and even fishing through holes in their floors. The cistern is now a tourist spot, and is beautifully lit up.
This Medussa head is the base for one of the columns in the cistern.
The Haghia Sophia lit up at night.
Day 10 – The Dolmbache Palace. The Dolmbache Palace was built towards the end of the Ottoman decline, and many were angered by the extravagance that was spent to build the Palace. The Palace is sheer opulance, and extravagance on such a grand scale. In almost every room are grand crystal chandeliers.
The Palace is now a presidential palace. Ataturk died at the Palace on November 10th, at 9:05. All the clocks in the palace are stopped at this time.
The bed that Ataturk died in.
So, these are our pictures. I hope you have enjoyed them as much as we do. Thank you for taking the time to look at them!
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