First Days in Istanbul

Wednesday, June 18
This city is simply amazing. It is a mix of old-new, grey-color, and Europe-Middle East. A TON of history right before our eyes and under our feet.

We scurry our way through the airport (for some reason the Istanbul airport seems full of people rushing rushing rushing). All goes smooth as we got visas, go through passport control, and reclaim our luggage. For some reason it's always a major victory to get through this first step with no issues. :-)

We are staying at Berk Guesthouse. It's the place I stayed when I visited in Jan 2013. It is located right in the heart of the old town area called Sultanamet. The owners Yesim and Ahmet are super friendly and helpful. Their little girl, Derin is just a doll. Yesim has already invited us to join them for dinner on Friday.

We ate dinner next door at Palatium (#116 of 10,890 in Trip Advisor for Istanbul Restaurants). I had cheese pide (like a flatbread pizza) and Dave had the beef kabobs.

Thursday June 19th
After a night of rest and a good breakfast at the hotel we headed out for a stroll in Istanbul streets. We walked around the former location of the Hippodrome where the Romans in the 3rd century AD had an arena (100,000 people) for chariot races, circuses, and other activities. We had a late lunch around the corner at Babylonia Restaurant (#5 of 10,890 on Trip Advisor for Istanbul). I had a vegetarian couscous dish and Dave had a tomato cucumber salad. Then we went inside the Blue (Sultan Ahmet) Mosque and spent quite a bit of time there observing and taking photos. It's the first time Dave and Charley have visited a mosque. Diana and I were prepared for the rules of modesty with our long sleeved shirts, pants, and head scarves.

The weather was hot and dry until around 6 pm when we had a rain storm. It rained off and on for a few hours. With our plans of viewing the sunset from our rooftop deck washed away we hit a restaurant around the corner called Mitani (#50 of 10,890 on Trip Advisor). We watched the rain, watched a World Cup match, snacked (hummus and artichoke heart), drank some Raki, and had few beers until Vince arrived from the airport. We even enjoyed a hookah (this fruit flavored mild tobacco mixture that we learned about from Rick Steve). Then dinner and it was delicious of course...I had vegetable kebobs and Dave had a Greek salad.

So many sights to see...I hope we can get them done before we leave on Monday!