It was a pretty interesting trip. We got to see a lot of historic sites.
And some not so historic sites... This gun shop was one of many in entrance to the tramway.
It was good to get out of Ankara. Istanbul is huge. We only managed to visit a few districts. But it was pretty cool to go from Europe to Asia by walking across a bridge.
We took a cruise on the Bosphorus at sunset. At one point on the cruise, I put my camera in my back pocket so I could take a picture for a friend. I was standing kind of awkwardly and the boat floor was wet. My feet slipped out from under me and I fell onto a bench, breaking the LCD screen on my camera (which acts as my viewfinder). So for the rest of the trip, I had to hope I was taking a picture of what I wanted...
We went to the Egyptian spice bazaar for a few minutes. It was a very colorful experience. We also went to the Grand Bazaar, but we only had enough time to explore one part of it. I got a pair of Pumas for 30 lira (maybe 25$). They are bright orange. :)
This is the Blue Mosque. Its a block away from Aya Sofya:
Its pretty intense to sit in between the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya, especially during Ramadan.
Probably one of the stranger experiences we had on this trip was meeting a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves team at Aya Sofya. The T-wolves were playing the Turkish team, Efes Pilsen (sp?), as part of the European world tour. I never found out who won.
After visiting the Aya Sofya, we went to Topkapi Palace and Dolmabahce Palaces. The bed above is from the Dolmabahce Palace. Its Ataturk's death bed.
After Istanbul, we went to a place called Canakkale. We visited Gallipoli, then headed to Ayvalik. We got to go swimming in the Aegean Sea at Ayvalik. Then we visited Troy. Next, we headed to Pergamom. We spent the night in Selcuk then visited Efes and a small town called Sirince. We left the next day at 7am and got back to Ankara around 4pm.
It was a long, jampacked tour, but definitely worth it. Stay tuned for more pictures.
Now I actually have to start doing work for class...
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