Topkapi Palace

On Monday we went to Topkapi Palace.  It was the royal residence of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years.  It was a gorgeous old palace full of gorgeous tiles!

Waiting in line to enter the palace gates.

Gorgeous tiles!

 

What's a good entry for my blog without a self portrait?!  :)

Royal grounds

More gorgeous tiles!

Inside the library

a "modest" entrance to one of the palace buildings

 

A view of the sea from the palace

Another view from the palace - reminded me of the ship cranes in Klaipeda

I was mesmerized by the interiors of the domes

such opulence

We rented the audio tour of the harem area - Bethany and Amanda shared the earpieces and then took turns telling me the highlights of what the tour was saying.

even the stone paths were lovely

a stained glass window in the Sultan's bedroom

me at the Gate of Salutations

Through the streets of Istanbul...

We did a LOT of walking in Istanbul.  I think we only rode to/from the airport and on our boat cruise.  The rest of the time we walked.  I was exhausted most of the time, but did enjoy seeing the city up close & personal at a slower pace.  Here are some of the lovely places we encountered while wandering the streets of Istanbul.

Hagia Sphia - a famous church/mosque

The German fountain

A walking street near the Grand Bazaar

A little food shop on a busy street - I took the photo because I have a good friend named "Cara" and it reminded me of her.  :)

I thought these lanterns were gorgeous!

Amanda taking a break on a ladybug rock!

Another great little walking street

Fun outdoor seating on a walking street

Istanbul had Burger King & McDonalds, but they also had Burger Turk!  :)

An armed entrance to some official area.

A very ornate and lovely convenience kiosk

A gate we passed through on the way to Topkapi Palace

 

An old building

Whirling Dervishes

"She could throw a whiling dervish out of whirl."  The Sound of Music is one of my all time favorite movies and that lyric from the song about Maria always stood out to me.  While in Istanbul we had the opportunity to go see a Whirling Dervish performance.  It was a bit mystical and mysterious to watch...quite fascinating to be sure!  Here are some photos from the performance...

The performance took place in a large room at the train station.  I thought the ceiling was lovely.

The opposite side of the room from where we sat.

A beautiful stained glass window above the exit.

I thought this little boy was adorable...so NOT excited to be there!

A group of men performed some traditional music at the beginning of the performance.  After a playing a few songs dressed like this, they went back and put on robes and hats to play the actual whirling music.

These were the dervishes before they began whirling.

Whirling

and more whirling

Watch them whirl!

and more whirling

back in their robes kissing the floor

at the end of the performance

Fall Break 2011 - the beginning!

There are over 600 photos on my laptop from my Fall Break.  I shared a few on Facebook and will share more here.  I will do it in a lot of little posts.  So, follow along on our very fun Fall Break trip to Istanbul, Turkey!

Our bus to Riga left at 3:40 AM.  I only live a few blocks from the bus station, so the girls came to my place around 10:00 the evening before to hang out and wait to walk to the bus station together.  Here they are taking a little nap in my living room.

While waiting at the bus station we did a series of fun photos...

Happy.

Serious (or at least trying)

Sleeping.

Super-excited!  (Amanda is being a turkey)

DST ended that night and we had been told that the bus would leave BEFORE time changed, but it did not and we were very sad when we saw the time change from 3:59 to 3:00 and we knew we had another 40 minutes to wait. 

This was the excitement we felt when we arrived at the Riga airport!

This is the only photo I took of our hotel room.  It was a great room!  Amanda and I slept in this King size bed.  Bethany had her own twin size bed.  There was a sitting area, wardrobe, nice size bathroom with a big tub & shower.  And all for a very reasonable price!

Our first meal in Istanbul was our only meal for the day other than the snacks we brought along for the plane.  We went to a great deli named Hafzit Ahmet for our meal and tried a little bit of everything!  Amanda is holding our plate of cold salads...roasted bell pepper, eggplant with yogurt sauce, stuffed grape leaves, marinated mushrooms, stewed eggplant w/tomato, a spinach salad, and a leafy salad with fresh feta.  Bethany had one of our hot plates of food which was rice, couscous, and a chicken breast topped with spinach, sauce, and cheese.

I am holding our spicy lamb/beef kebab that came with roasted tomatoes, couscous, a roasted chili, flat bread, and red onions that were sprinkled with some amazing seasoning!

As we explored the neighborhood where we were staying we began to see many delicious windows like this one - filled with huge trays of delicious baked goods!

Me enjoying a cappicino and baklava for dessert on Sunday evening.  Both were excellent!  :)