Istanbul Part Two

 "okayyy you wack job, quit holding your phone in my face and take the dam soup"

So its  11pm on a Sunday and are hungry. Everything is closed, except this seemingly hole in the wall restaurant, right by our apartment. We walk in, and there is husband and wife preparing tomorrows food. Everything was being made from scratch, with a beautiful array of fresh ingredients. They invited us to sit down, and treated us like we were guests in there own home. Can it get any more authentic? 

This guy understood that I wanted a picture.

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia began as a Greek Patriarchal Cathedral, it was dedicated in 360 and served Constantinople until 1453. 

Except for a brief vacation from 1204 -1261 when it served as a Roman Catholic Cathedral, converted by the Latin Empire. 

 From 1453- 1931 it served as a Mosque, form the Ottoman Empire to modern day Turkey. It is currently a museum.

What is really cool about it though, is that you can actually see the layers of history on the walls.

If you look closely you can see christian art showing through, as the Islamic fresco's are wearing off and deteriorating.

The old boys club

Showin off for the ladies

Vintage shops and kittens...

Purrrrrrfect.

Turkish street food? Or the answer to North American obesity?

Put down that big gulp son,

and pick up an OJ.

Rose hip flavoured hookah

The beautiful Blue Mosque

All of these pictures were taken while I was sitting on the floor. So when you look at them, imagine your sitting on the most plush, soft and luxurious red carpet you have ever felt.

That way you can get a better feel for the ambiance.

They were all over the city <3

Oh hi puss

The Grand Bazar  could inspire wanderlust in anyone. Thousands of kiosks and shops, in a maze of colours and sounds. It was never ending and truly grand.

I fell in love with anything and everything Rose, but I mean Mixed Love sounds pretty great too.

This is probably my favourite 6 minutes of Disney magic ever created. I figured now would be the appropriate time to share it. Robin Williams is so fantastic.

The Bosporus Sea

My brief stint in Asia!

That makes four continents.

One of my favourite pictures from the entire trip, fisherman's life.

153 Turkish Lira please, gulp*

Here kitty, lets share.

Workin' man

Coffee at the Four Seasons Istanbul, since that's clearly all I can afford.

Dolmabaçe Palace

Another favourite picture.

Bye bye Istanbul,
 you have truly opened my eyes
-MC

An introduction to Istanbul

ISTANBUL, TURKEY! 

Where is that on the map even...

Let me give you some advice, if you ever choose to go where the East meets the West.
Just to lighten the culture shock a bit.

1) Any attempt you make not to look like a tourist, will most likely end up in failure. Sigh* Either way, you will become distracted by shiny things and bright colours, in a matter of seconds, and forget your pretentious ways.

2) Educate yourself, Istanbul is one of the most history rich cities in the world. 

3) There are cats everywhere, and I mean everywhere. They make weird noises in the night, and brush up against your legs, at the most unsuspecting times. Deal with it.

3) Use bottled water for. Everything.

4) In touristy area's, you are going to be heckled my merchants hawking there wares... and heckled, and heckled, and heckled, and heckled. 

5) You can wear what ever you want, either way, some people are going to stare at you. You are a tourist after all.

7) Indulge in Turkish Delight 

8) Embrace the Adhan, it happens five times a day. Yes, it happens at 5am... no it's not the cats.

9) Go dancing with the locals

10)  Don't be shy! Everyone is very friendly and helpful. People will love to practise there English with you, or stop and pose for a picture. In general people are delighted to share there vibrant and amazing culture with you.

Stay tuned,

-MC

When in Rome cont.

I love this little statue done by Birnini, in person the elephant looks so tiny and the obelisk so big. Almost as if the elephant is too small to bear the load, and is looking up to his mother for help.

But I also love this Dali retake, the elephant seems much more sure of himself. Now that he's grown, the obelisk appears much smaller.

Tid bits from the Dali art exhibit at the Complesso del Vittoriano

" Mr. Rhinoceros, what magnificent artistic ability you have!"

"Why thank you kind Sir."

Meet the most expensive Vespa in the world. The story goes, two young collage lads were off on an adventure when they bumped into the surrealism icon and the love of his life, Gala. Since most people sign autographs on paper, and he's Salvador Dali, he signed his name on the far side of the Vespa and Gala's on the side you see. 

How cute.

Dali and Walt shared a bit of a bromace.

"Have you talked to couch lately?  She's such an ass kisser it drives me nuts."

Destino

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

May I present to you the beautiful and exquisite Trevi Fountain. Legend has it, if you throw in one coin you will return to Rome, two to fall in love and three to return to Rome and fall in love.

La Dolce Vita

Ponte Sant' Angelo

[Looks who's watching]

The dome of the magnificent San Pietro

My favourite room in the Vatican museum, the gallery of maps. Its a long hall, with 40 maps frescoed on the walls, representing the geographical regions and the papal properties of Italy, at the time.  It's truly amazing how accurate they are, given the maps were painted from hill tops in 1580-1585. I love it when science and religion collide. I also love vibrant colours and shiny things. 

The alter of San Pietro, sorry getting good pictures of this was pretty much impossible with my camera. 

Meet the Swiss Guard, because the Swiss are much more trust worthy then the Italians.

San Pietro from the outside

Post cards to the Grandmama's Marian and Charlotte, at twice the speed of regular post. #Perks

Leonardo DaVinci museum

From what I read he was a little obsessed with flight and studied it extensively... much to his apprentices peril. "You there boy, fly this of a cliff... I am 73.98% sure it could work"

Campo di Fiori

"I don't think were in Kansas anymore Toto..."

Ciao,Ciao

-MC