Istanbul sight-seeing

Blue Mosque
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This past March I was able to attend the CEESA conference in Istanbul through work. This is a popular conference for educators and it takes place each year in different country. I was hesitant to sign up for it this year, but a few of the members on staff talked me into it at the last minute. I am glad they did! We were able to spend a good amount of time touring the city during my visit. When I think of Istanbul now, I immediately think of overpopulated. This place was crowded-insanely crowded. People are everywhere-in addition to cars stuck in traffic jams all over the city. As you walk through the city, all you can hear are car horns honking and beeping….and all you see-are men. We saw very few women on Thursday and Friday. They were not walking around, running errands, or working. This city seemed to consist entirely of men.

Blue Mosque
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We spent the first evening in the area of the city by the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. We had a great dinner and enjoyed the atmosphere. The next day we went to the conference and then headed out to tour the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Having never been in an entirely Muslim country-it was quite breathtaking to view these magnificent mosques and hear the daily prayers being chanted and broadcasted throughout the city. The mosques are made of marble floors, and fabulously tiled walls. Pictures cannot capture the beauty inside. We also took a walk through the Grand bazaar-an area in which you have to haggle with the men in order to buy clothing, fake designer purses, jewelry, pottery, etc. Again, this place was insanely crowded and over stimulating. I tried to bargain for some pottery, but the Turkish men did not like my offers and so I left with nothing-but felt okay about that. We figured out how to use public transportation and that evening we took a ferry to the other side of the city-ASIA! The girls that I was hanging out with and I were pretty excited about getting to another continent. We made sure to have dinner there-to make it count that we were in Asia. We found this small restaurant and tried to order-but the gentlemen did not speak any English. Basically-the guy ended up making 3-4 dishes-that included samples of many of the things on their menu. He also brought us each a bottle of water. The bill was so inexpensive-the cheapest bill we had in Istanbul!

tiled dome inside mosque
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We were also able to take a quick glance at the Spice Bazaar the following day. Within 5 minutes I was ready to be done! It was packed with people-and on this particular day we did in fact see women! Apparently it was shopping day for the ladies. We immediately lost 1 of the girls within the first minute, and after finding her again-we split-it was just too crowded for a few of us. We can say we have seen it though-the spices are quite beautifully displayed.

Overall it was a super experience. This is one particular country that Chad would like to go to-so I look forward to getting back there-hopefully in the summer so we can take advantage of the beaches and water.