Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Trip to Istanbul

I just got back from an amazing trip to Istanbul, and as you might expect, I took a LOT of pictures (about 500). They're all up on Flickr if you want to see them, but since I know most of you (except my parents) will click through only a page or two before getting bored, here's a short selection of my favorite photos that I took. These aren't necessarily the best ones, but I tried to select shots that would quickly show you everything I did and highlight some of the more interesting bits.

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The Blue Mosque, which was within walking distance of my hotel.

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The Hagia Sophia, also within walking distance of the hotel. These two photos were taken on the same day, a few hours apart. Istanbul was often cloudy in the morning and sunny by noon.

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My pathetic attempts at capturing just how enormous the Hagia Sophia is.

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I thought that this light was very tasteful and blended well with the surrounding architecture.

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This is probably one of the least intelligent things I have seen a parent do with his child. Yes, this is on the second floor, 40-50 feet up.

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Now over to the Blue Mosque (which is only bluish on the inside).

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Two interior shots for awe inspiration purposes.

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And then onto the Basilica Cistern. The scary lighting got old after a while.

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But I did quite like the Medusa head that had been repurposed as the base of a column.

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On my meanderings through the west side of the Old City, I stumbled onto a pedestrian underpass that was also an enormous bike market.

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The Suleymaniye Mosque, which apparently inspired the Blue Mosque.

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The interior of the Suleymaniye Mosque. Not as flowery as the Blue Mosque, but I like this one a lot too.

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This is the (overpriced) Spice Bazaar. I ended up finding spices at a nice place across the river for much cheaper.

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How many Turks can you spot? That's why it's overpriced.

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The tiny (but free!) Istanbul Railway Museum, tucked into a single room in the train station near the Spice Bazaar.

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The very pleasant park next to Topkapi Palace.

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The church, not mosque, inside the palace grounds.

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Some tiling on the walls of Topkapi Palace

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The library in Topkapi Palace. I think I would be happy if my house had only one room as long as it looked like this.

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The War on Terror commemorative chess set! Complete with twin towers as castles. Hilarious...except not.

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There are a LOT of cats in Istanbul, and they basically own the place, as this one demonstrated.

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On a whim, I decided to visit the Prince's Islands instead of viewing yet another very old Ottoman palace. That was probably the best decision I made during the whole trip.

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The heavy machinery at the port on the Asian side of Istanbul.

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Exiting the harbor.

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The boat ride is about an hour long, so feeding the gulls is a favorite pastime.

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Wish I could have stopped at that island.

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On the main island, Büyükada, there isn't really anything to do except rent a bike and ride along this road overlooking the ocean. Which is fine by me.

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A sailboat near the shore on Büyükada.

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There were a lot of nice houses on the island, but I thought this one was particularly cute.

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Not all the houses were in good condition though.

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I was a little creeped out by the shoes lying in the courtyard of this abandoned house.

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Departing Büyükada in the late afternoon.

1 comment:

Patti said...

Awesome pictures, man. That's one of my most desired destinations. I always thought Istanbul would be a really cool place to see.