We have found, at various points on our trip, that our travel feels a lot more like work than it feels like vacation. Like when we get off at the wrong stop in Amman and have to carry our backpacks 2 kilometers along the highway to get to our next bus or when we have to strategize how we can make our last couple shekel (just a few dollars and Israel is pretty expensive) stretch another 48 hours or when we pratically fight our way through touts and rickshaw drivers and then find ourselves walking nearly an hour, with our loaded backpacks, to find the metro. At some point in Israel or Jordan, Turkey became like the beacon of light at the end of the tunnel, a Friday night after an endless string of Mondays. Both our mothers would be flying together to meet us at the Istanbul airport and from then on we would not have to think about a thing - a vacation from our vacation.
Our time in Turkey was unlike any other portion of our trip: beautiful hotels, delicious meals, news clothes, daily showers, and all kinds of luxuries we had not had over the past 6 months. And more than anything else, we got to spend time with our mothers. Time with our mothers would have been enough to re-energize us for our travels even if we had stayed in $2 a night hostels . . . but being spoiled for 2 weeks wasn't bad either :)
The beautiful city of Istanbul. We think this is one of the best cities we have encountered - a fantastic mix of beautiful architecture, lovely waterways, traditional culture, and modern fashion.
A birthday celebration dinner for Tessa. You can't tell but we had a gorgeous view looking out over the Straight of Bosphorus. We are sitting on the European side of Istanbul and we could see the Asian side across the water.
Just a great way to cut an apple.
We spent two days sight-seeing and exploring the city. This is a medusa head used as a base for one of the pillars in the underground cistern.
We spent our last day in Istanbul in between two continents, cruising up and down the Straight of Bosphorus. It was a perfect sunny day and we stopped on the Asian side of the straight for lunch and jewelry shopping. Then on our walk back to our hotel, we couldn't resist stopping for baklava - and then we of course had to sample every different type . . .
The beautiful city of Istanbul. We think this is one of the best cities we have encountered - a fantastic mix of beautiful architecture, lovely waterways, traditional culture, and modern fashion.
A birthday celebration dinner for Tessa. You can't tell but we had a gorgeous view looking out over the Straight of Bosphorus. We are sitting on the European side of Istanbul and we could see the Asian side across the water. 
Just a great way to cut an apple.
We spent our last day in Istanbul in between two continents, cruising up and down the Straight of Bosphorus. It was a perfect sunny day and we stopped on the Asian side of the straight for lunch and jewelry shopping. Then on our walk back to our hotel, we couldn't resist stopping for baklava - and then we of course had to sample every different type . . .
1 comment:
your pictures of istanbul make me smile. :)
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