• Christie MitchellRTW 2022Christie Mitchell
    The Blue Mosque
    Inside the Blue MosqueCeiling of the Blue Mosque - during constructionObelisk from EgyptEntrance to Topaki PalaceInside the palaceThe palace groundsPalacePalacePalacePalacePalaceBoat on the Bosphorus River"Asia" side of the riverJordan carefully befriended a street catThe Basilica cistern

    Day in Istanbul, Turkey

    6 augustus 2022, Turkije ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    Miles: 7.5 Steps: 18681
    Flights stairs: 19

    What a crazy place Istanbul is! There are SO many people here, and everyone is going somewhere very fast. Cars honk constantly, just as a form of communication. Not a sign of anger, or danger - it’s very different. Chaotic is the only word I’d use to describe the city.

    This is a VERY old city with so much history - Istanbul is what was ancient Constantinople, and is the largest city in Europe. Had no idea.

    We went to the Blue Mosque, which sadly was under construction inside so didn’t see much. Pretty from the outside tho. The skyline is littered with mosques and towers.

    We also went to a few squares and saw an Egyptian obelisk that was brought here by the Roman’s in like 350ad. Seem to find Egyptian relics in lots of cities. Kind of sad so many were taken from there.

    We went to the Topaki palace, and discovered we just don’t seem to like palaces very much. 😂 they’re interesting, but just not our thing, I guess. Very pretty gardens tho.

    I have found I LOVE boat rides … any and all boat rides in any city. Jordan, not so much, but she kindly humors me and comes along. So we took one down the Bosphorus River. Beautiful. And a fact I didn’t know - Istanbul sits on two continents. Half is in Europe, and half is in Asia - separated by the river. Who knew?? Once we got off got some street food and jordan befriended a street cat that was really loving.

    Our highlight of the day was going to the Basilica Cistern. It was an old aqueduct way back when underground that they’ve now made into a tourist attraction by lighting it up and such. It was really unique, pretty and a great way to get out of the heat!

    The poverty here is intense in places. There are trams that run on the streets and we saw barefoot young kids hanging on the back to get a free ride. And the absolute worst I’ve seen here is mothers and their children sitting on the sidewalks with the trash dumped out between them sorting thru it looking for edible discarded food. Terrible.    Meer informatie

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