Palaces, Elevator Malfunctions and Traveling 3 Continents in One Day! Oh My!

So, after I got hit by the car in Turkey, our group went on to visit the Dolmabache Palace that used to be long to the Sultans of Turkey. I was really hoping I might be mistaken for Turkish royalty...but unfortunately that wasn't the case!

The palace was absolutely incredible, and different from the few western Europe palaces I've seen. The inside was filled with room after room of crystal. Swarovski would have had a heart attack. Even the poles holding up the banister of the grand staircase were made out of crystal. It was meant to make everything sparkle in the candlelight before there was electricity. My favorite room for sure was the Ceremonial Hall. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. The rest of the palace was impressive, but this room took my breath away. You feel so small when you walk inside because it's an open room about 4 stories high with painted ceilings and columns. The best comparison I can make is the Grand Ballroom you see in the Disney movie Beauty and the Beast when Ms. Potts sings "Tale as Old as Time" (yes...I'm well versed in Disney trivia). Except 10 times as amazing. The crystal chandelier in the Ceremonial Hall weighs 4.5 TONS! That's 9000 pounds of crystal!!!! I could have stayed in that room for hours.

Next we went to the Grand Bazar. I had pictured it as some kind of open air market, but it's in this huge enclosed space. You can buy anything from silver, to Turkish tea sets, to 100% silk scarves, lamps (like from Aladdin)...pretty much anything you want! They also LOVE to bargain with you. One of the people in our group got a lecture from one of the shop keepers for not being a good bargainer. I had a great time bargaining :)

On the way to dinner at around 5PM you could hear all of the speakers from the mosques blaring with the call to prayer across the city. They read from the Qu'ran, but it sounds like singing. Then on the way up to dinner I got stuck on a tiny elevator with six people from our group. It was worse than getting hit by the car since I'm so claustrophobic. We were 7 floors up, the doors wouldn't open, we couldn't speak the language, no air conditioning, and no emergency button. Finally someone on the top floor who wanted to come down pressed the down button, and I guess that cleared up the jam because we rode down two floors and were able to get out. My advice...take the stairs in Turkey!

The next day we traveled over to the Asia side of Istanbul. (Istanbul is the only city that covers two continents!) We had Turkish coffee on the Asian side, and then we took a beautiful boat ride of the Bosphorus, the strait that seperates Europe from Asia. You had the best view of Istanbul from the water! You could see fortresses, palaces, and mosques. Like I said...16 MILLION people live in this city...twice the size of the 8 million people in NYC!

Anyway, Istanbul was fantastic, and it was filled with adventures! After visiting Turkey we traveled about 36 hours to go all the way from Asia to Europe back to North America!

More to come...

Istanbul Once Constantinople (Türkiye)

It's been a few weeks since I actually went, but at the end of my time in Bulgaria a few of us took a weekend trip to Istanbul, Turkey. It was about an 8 hour bus ride there, but it was totally worth it! It was interesting too because we had to drive across the Turkish border which is an experience in itself... for example, I learned that taking a picture of a sign that says "Turkiye" at the Turkish border is a huge no-no. I also wasn't really thinking straight either as it was 3am when we were crossing and had to show our passports etc. I felt like I was in a spy movie!

We were only in Istanbul for about a day and a half, but we saw most of the main attractions. So, as you can imagine, our day and a half was jam packed with adventure.

We started bright and early and went to the beautiful Blue Mosque. One of the most famous known for its gorgeous blue tiles that decorate the interior. It was the first time I had ever been into a mosque, and it was incredible. The inside was huge and vaulted, supported by 4 enormous columns the guide referenced as the "elephant legs" because... that's what they looked like. I had to remove my shoes and wear a shawl and wrap skirt they provided... even though I was just dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

After that we saw the Hagia Sofia (or as they say Aya Sofya). We didn't get to go inside, but it was fantastic to see from the outside...it's one of the most magnificent pieces of architecture in the world (according to my guide book) and is over 1,400 years old!

Then we roamed the streets a little bit, and as my friend and I were looking at purchasing protective Evil Eyes from a street vendor, we both got hit by a car! Obviously we weren't really hurt...I did get a scrape on my knee, but the guy didn't stop and he totally looked at us as he proceeded to hit us with his car! My family thought this was extremely funny mostly becuase I wasn't hurt. Still...an interesting experience to add to my list of adventures.

Anyway that's only about half the day, but I'll write about the other half later!