Initially, Istanbul was not in the plan. I hadn't imaged being able to do it on my tight schedule but after a lot of thinking and strategizing I decided I could pull it off. I would just need to make decisions later on down the road on where to go and what stops are totally necessary.
Plus, my friend Ethan who is on his own crazy traveling journey was taking a course in Istanbul for 5 weeks and I really wanted to see him. I remember 3 years ago chatting with Ethan online and him telling me about his trip that would bring him all through Asia and Europe without taking one single flight (Impressed? Check out his blog v-w-x.blogspot.com) and thinking we could perhaps cross paths. Turns out we did! I've been crashing at his apartment for about a week and exploring Istanbul all day while the poor dude goes to class for 12 hours.
I hit the ground running in Istanbul as far as sight seeing goes. In the first day I knocked 4 attractions off my list. I know this may not seem impressive, but after traveling for this long and sightseeing being my full time job it gets hard to be so motivated to see everything a city has to offer. One great thing I found about Istanbul is that the major top 5 sights are within 5 minutes of each other making checking them all out a breeze.
Check out some of shots of beautiful Istanbul:
The Blue Mosque - amazingly impressive and free admission!
Ayasofya - one of my favorite attractions in Istanbul. I spent nearly 3 hours walking around and admiring the lighting and coloring of the building.
Those are just some of the highlights of Istanbul and the first couple of days of sight seeing. Next post will detail more sights, my failure to return back to Asia and a Istanbul debrief.
Plus, my friend Ethan who is on his own crazy traveling journey was taking a course in Istanbul for 5 weeks and I really wanted to see him. I remember 3 years ago chatting with Ethan online and him telling me about his trip that would bring him all through Asia and Europe without taking one single flight (Impressed? Check out his blog v-w-x.blogspot.com) and thinking we could perhaps cross paths. Turns out we did! I've been crashing at his apartment for about a week and exploring Istanbul all day while the poor dude goes to class for 12 hours.
I hit the ground running in Istanbul as far as sight seeing goes. In the first day I knocked 4 attractions off my list. I know this may not seem impressive, but after traveling for this long and sightseeing being my full time job it gets hard to be so motivated to see everything a city has to offer. One great thing I found about Istanbul is that the major top 5 sights are within 5 minutes of each other making checking them all out a breeze.
Check out some of shots of beautiful Istanbul:
The Blue Mosque - amazingly impressive and free admission!
Ayasofya - one of my favorite attractions in Istanbul. I spent nearly 3 hours walking around and admiring the lighting and coloring of the building.
Those are just some of the highlights of Istanbul and the first couple of days of sight seeing. Next post will detail more sights, my failure to return back to Asia and a Istanbul debrief.
wow...its so beautiful!
ReplyDeletewow, what gorgeous buildings!
ReplyDelete