ABC = Ashleigh & Brett Campbell: Day 8 August 13.2011- Istanbul, Turkey

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Day 8 August 13.2011- Istanbul, Turkey

Like I stated in my previous post, I never imagined that I would come to the country of Turkey. When I first heard our cruise stopped at Istanbul, I wasn't expecting it to be great. Boy, I was definitely proven wrong! Istanbul is a beautiful city along the water!!! On our excursion, we saw the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Both are beautiful buildings with amazing designs inside. In the same square there was Topkapi Palace (that apparently has this beautiful big diamond), but we were not able to make it inside. There was one funny story when we were at the Blue Mosque. I had to go to the bathroom (I was going to pee my pants!) and they wouldn't let me in unless I paid a Euro. I thought it was ridiculous, but paid them anyway. They then wouldn't let me go in for 15 minutes because they were cleaning the bathroom. Finally they let me in and I had to walk down stairs under the square. Somehow I lucked out and got a flushing toilet. The ladies behind me had to go in a hole. Haha, it was a nightmare, but it was quite the experience!

We then went to a carpet demonstration which was very interesting and immediately turned into a sales pitch. By then, both Brett and I had checked out. We decided to ditch and make our way to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar is such a neat experience. Inside there are over 4,000 shops with the owners ready to bargain. They take any currency, so to our advantage, we saved our Euros and used our dollars. I bought some earrings that had the Turkish Evil Eye on them. I really like them! After spending about 2 hours in the Grand Bazaar, Brett and I decided to do some exploring. During our exploring, we found this little bakery that had fresh baklava. We bought walnut and pistachio baklava. Both were sooooooooo good (the walnut was the best). I wish I could be back there to eat some more! :)