Month: March 2016

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Friday was a very long day. We flew from Istanbul to San Francisco. As we were leaving our hotel I took a picture of the cat who has obviously adopted the hotel. It was outside the door whenever we came in or went out.

We spent Friday night in Walnut Creek at the Bruce's. Our granddaughter is much more confident on her feet then she was two months ago. She seemed happy to see us.

This morning we drove home to Reno. It rained almost all the way. It is very good to be home. The whole two months were an absolutely wonderful trip. We are already talking about where to go next and what we will do next time we go to Spain!

Thanks everybody for following along with us through this blog. I loved seeing your comments and likes. It made me feel connected to all of you and made the trip more enjoyable.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Tomorrow we fly from Istanbul back to San Francisco so today was the last day of our trip.

This morning we took the bus to Taksim square and wandered around a bit then had a coffee. The square is where demonstrations happen when there is unrest here. Today it was quiet and wet.

Then we visited the Basilica Cistern. It is a massive cistern built by the Byzantines in 532. There are 336 columns many of which are recycled from ancient temples. The whole massive structure is under the square by the Blue Mosque. It was just opened for public viewing in 1987.

It was raining most of the day but it stopped in mid afternoon and we were able to take a nice walk in the gardens around the Topkapi Palace – Gülhane Park.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called Matbah that serves dishes with historic roots. The dishes are called Ottoman Palace Cuisine.

Happy Birthday Duke!!

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Duke and I did the Golden Horn loop on the hop on hop off bus this morning. Afterwards we had lunch in a little shop in the bazaar.

They rolled out the pita and filled it with meat filling before cooking it in the pizza oven behind Dike.

Then we went shopping in the Spice Bazaar

Monday, March 1, 2016

We had a very busy day today, our first day in Istanbul. We Saw a lot and had fun. First we visited the Blue Mosque.

There are some stunning mosaics that were covered up when the couch was made a mosque. They have been uncovered again now.

After leaving the Hagia Sophia we stopped for some Turkish coffee and baklava.

Next we bought tickets for the hop on hop off bus tour of Istanbul. We rode the bus over to the Dolmabahçe Palace. It is right on the Bosphorus and was the palace of the sultans from 1856 and 1924 when the Turkish Republic was created. After that Atatürk used the palace sometimes. It is where he died.

They didn’t allow us to take pictures inside but the palace had all the original opulant furnishings. The painted ceilings, chandeliers and crystal balusters on one of the staircase were especially stunning.

First we toured the part of the palace used for official purposes and then the family parts of the palace, the harem. In the harem each wife had a seaparate 4 story apartment off the central common rooms.

This is Duke’s First trip to Turkey. I was here with my family in 1966 (I think that’s the year) when I was 14 years old. I remember how impressed I was with the beauty of Istanbul. On that 1964 trip we took a boat tour on the Bosphorus. Back then there were no bridges from European Istanbul to Asian Istanbul. Now there are two. Our bus tour took us across one of those bridges. It was rush hour so finishing the bus tour loop took a long time. We got to see a lot of the city. Istanbul still impresses me with its beautiful setting and buildings.

And this is desert, figs, oranges, apricots, walnuts and raisins. And of course Turkish coffee.