Istanbul, Turkey

last night i was absolutely swamped with school stuff to do.

however, the fact that tomorrow is a jewish holiday is easing the pressure off of the new school year.

don't you love when you're christian and your school gives you off for a jewish holiday?

our last stop on the trip was Istanbul, Turkey.

It's where the cruise ship docked.  We spent three full days there before coming home.

Istanbul is one of the those completely magical cities.

the mosques and palaces we saw were stunning.

the view from our hotel was breathtaking.

you can see for yourself, it was once of those places with one of a kind sites.

{this post has a ton of photos because i really couldn't leave any out}

The Blue Mosque was one thing on my list that I had to go to.  And it was even better then I expected.  We hired an awesome tour guide to take us around Istanbul on our 2nd day there.  He took us inside of the mosque and told us about the creation.  We saw so many women and men praying and it was interesting to hear about the different men/women sections.  We had to wear shawls and long skirts.  The entire place felt so sacred and holy and it was really a wonderful experience.  

The Hagia Sofia.  This was also a spectacular place.  Our tour guide took us through it and told us that to build it, they built a pile of sand and built the Hagia Sofia around it.  Then, they had to shovel the sand out!  

The architecture inside was amazing.

After the Hagia Sofia, we took a walk through the local towns in Istanbul.  We took pictures of the palaces and local architecture.  This building above and below used to be a school.  How amazing are the tiles?

On our final day, we spent it walking around the Spice Market, Grand Bazaar, and checked out some of the shops near our hotel.  I have pictures of these in the food post.

Amazing, right?

i'm off to yoga! 

xoxo