Someone was excited to begin our second day of exploration in Istanbul!
As was I. We were headed to the Grand Bazaar to do some shopping. It was a never-ending maze of tiled, vaulted ceilings and vendors selling their wares.
If I had been on my own or just with Pete, I would have subtly browsed, but avoided any serious interactions as I am a bit fearful of being haggled, harassed and ripped off. Well, with toddler in tow, avoiding interactions was impossible due to the Turkish love of children and Jude's curiosity over all of the items for sale.
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| Just browsing for some "meows." Stay cats all over the city! |
From the Grand Bazaar, we walked to the Spice Market. This was our one big exploration through the city where we got a sense of day to day living.
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| University of Istanbul |
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| I didn't try them, but the meat sandwiches were a bit hit. |
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| Balancing water jugs |
From the Spice Market, we walked to the waterfront in search of a boat cruise on the Bosphorus. First, we did as the locals and had fish sandwiches, cooked on moored boats. What a job. Cooking fish all day on a rocking boat! Jude and I also had some roasted corn on the cob, a popular street food all over the city.
Off on the cruise!
I forgot to mention that from the moment Jude saw Oma, he was obsessed. He nearly got a hoarse voice from calling, "OMA!" anytime she was out of sight. If he wanted to be carried, only Oma would do. It was a nice break for me and other than tired arms, I know Oma was happy, too.
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| Singing with Oma |
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| Royal palaces along the river |
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| And mosques |
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| And fortresses |
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| And more palaces |
At the end of busy day two, we went to a really nice modern Turkish restaurant and feasted before our early morning flight to Greece. Istanbul, we hope to be back one day!
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