This is the exterior of the mosque.
Women enter the mosque through a separate entrance and pray behind the wooden partitions.
This is part of the ceiling.
We walked a little through through the market area just outside the mosque before heading off to the spice market and our lunch destination.
These are a few photos from the bus on our way.
This is the bridge we would use to cross the Bosporus Strait.
Plenty of traffic on the bridge!
One view from the bridge
This is the Beylerbeyi Palace, a 19th century Ottoman palace located in the Beylerbeyi neighborhood of Istanbul, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus.
We spent time wandering through the market on the Asian side of Istanbul. This is an area where many of the local people come to shop.
It's been a couple days since you had cat pictures, so here are some from the market. Shopping can be so exhausting!
We had our Farewell lunch today. Nilufer ordered several different foods for us to try and it was really fun to try them all. They served family style and each platter was split between four people. We started with some appetizers and dips, but I didn't take any pictures of them. This was the meat kabab - Delicious!!
These dishes were a lamb and bulger rice, then a chicken and rice in a baked pastry, and the bottom dish was a peach, almond and squash - also Delicious!
We also had the puffed bread and baklava and Turkish tea for dessert.
There was plenty leftover (except dessert) and everyone was quite full!
After lunch we walked to the port and took a ferry back across the Bosporus to the European side of Istanbul where we are staying.
It was a wonderful morning and afternoon, but it wasn't over yet! Off the ferry, we got back on the bus to the hotel long enough to unload backpacks and then head off to the Grand Bazaar. It was about a 15 minute walk and about half the group opted to skip this part of the day.
The Grand Bazaar (covered market) in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. There are 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops. I'm not good at the math stuff, but it covers over 3.1 hectares. There are 22 entrances into the bazaar. Needless to say, we did NOT see everything in the 1-1/2 hours we spent there!
We had a good time seeing everything they had to offer. Back at the hotel we had a little while to organize things before the entire group met and had a farewell drink with our tour director, Nilufer. All throughout the trip Nilufer would wink at Tobey but his bubble was burst when others mentioned she winked at them, as well during the get-together. It was a great trip with lots of good memories, but we all felt sad that it was over.
Tomorrow we leave the group and head to Germany to visit three of our German kids (exchange students we have hosted over the years) and one set of their parents. If I get a chance, I will post a follow-up to these Turkey entries with some final thoughts and photos, but for now, I hope you enjoyed traveling with us!
One view from the bridge
This is the Beylerbeyi Palace, a 19th century Ottoman palace located in the Beylerbeyi neighborhood of Istanbul, on the Asian shore of the Bosporus.
We spent time wandering through the market on the Asian side of Istanbul. This is an area where many of the local people come to shop.
It's been a couple days since you had cat pictures, so here are some from the market. Shopping can be so exhausting!
We had our Farewell lunch today. Nilufer ordered several different foods for us to try and it was really fun to try them all. They served family style and each platter was split between four people. We started with some appetizers and dips, but I didn't take any pictures of them. This was the meat kabab - Delicious!!
These dishes were a lamb and bulger rice, then a chicken and rice in a baked pastry, and the bottom dish was a peach, almond and squash - also Delicious!
We also had the puffed bread and baklava and Turkish tea for dessert.
There was plenty leftover (except dessert) and everyone was quite full!
After lunch we walked to the port and took a ferry back across the Bosporus to the European side of Istanbul where we are staying.
It was a wonderful morning and afternoon, but it wasn't over yet! Off the ferry, we got back on the bus to the hotel long enough to unload backpacks and then head off to the Grand Bazaar. It was about a 15 minute walk and about half the group opted to skip this part of the day.
The Grand Bazaar (covered market) in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world. There are 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops. I'm not good at the math stuff, but it covers over 3.1 hectares. There are 22 entrances into the bazaar. Needless to say, we did NOT see everything in the 1-1/2 hours we spent there!
We had a good time seeing everything they had to offer. Back at the hotel we had a little while to organize things before the entire group met and had a farewell drink with our tour director, Nilufer. All throughout the trip Nilufer would wink at Tobey but his bubble was burst when others mentioned she winked at them, as well during the get-together. It was a great trip with lots of good memories, but we all felt sad that it was over.
Tomorrow we leave the group and head to Germany to visit three of our German kids (exchange students we have hosted over the years) and one set of their parents. If I get a chance, I will post a follow-up to these Turkey entries with some final thoughts and photos, but for now, I hope you enjoyed traveling with us!
No comments:
Post a Comment