Europe & Asia

Turkey is a country divided between two continents, Europe and Asia. Istanbul is a divided city between Europe and Asia. We stayed in the European side of Istanbul right by the Bosphorus Strait the body of water which separate Istanbul and Turkey. One of the first few days that we were in Istanbul we took a ferry ride up the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea. Seeing the different landscapes of Turkey along the Bosphorus was really interesting, the transition from a city scape to rolling green hills. Then coming upon a castle atop a rolling cliff area overlooking the water that looked like something that was supposed to be Ireland not Turkey was so funny to me. The differences in Turkey’s landscape were a pleasant surprise. Upon landing on the Asia side of Turkey as you walked off the boat onto the dock you could see tons of jellyfish in the water! It was like a sense from Finding Nemo and something I did not expect at all. After the surprising jellyfish we headed to a restaurant right on the harbor for a lunch of fresh fish.

After lunch we headed back to Istanbul on a bus to enjoy the drive back to the city through the mountains. When arriving in Istanbul we went to the Sultans Palace. The Palace was so beautiful with wonderful sounding gardens of tulips. Before entering the Palace you had to put these little plastic baggies on your shoes to not get dirt on the carpets (which I think were the original carpets when the Sultan lived there) they were beautiful carpets. I would post a picture with their wonderful design but no photos are allowed to be taken in the Sultans Palace. The Palace was lovely with lots of chandeliers. The largest one being located in the ball room and weighing in at 4.5 tons! It was massive but very beautiful. Touring the Palace also gave me a few first such as seeing real ivory elephant tusks as well as those full bear rugs with the head and everything, you know like the ones you would see in some movie up in some country cabin in front of a fireplace. It was crazy!