left my heart in... istanbul!

Luke discovers the joy of simit.

I recently had the distinct pleasure of enjoying Istanbul (for a third time - it's always best the third time) with lovely, fabulous visitors!!! Mom and Luke made it out here for some delightful delights, and we ripped it up in the big city before heading to Alanya.
Some highlights include impressing a budding Byzantinist with the amazing mosaics of the Hagia Sofia and St. Savior in Chora (Fetiye Muzesi), walking amongst the incredible tulip blossoms, eating simit and roasted chestnuts in front of the Sultanahmet Cami (Blue Mosque), exploring the public bus system, walking up and down Istiklal St with the hep kats in Taksim Square, constant shouts of "yes, please?" from shop vendors, being hit on in front of (and perhaps alongside) my mother by a half-Spanish, half-Turkish/Kurdish rug salesman named Carlos (he had a talent for making napkin flowers), getting lost in the Egyptian Spice Bazaar, a sunny tour up the banks of the mighty Bosphorus and subsequent castle-climbing adventure (+ delectable sandwiches - "yes please, fish sandwich?"), and, finally, unknowingly eating a dessert that's prepared with chicken (both of us veggies tried it accidentally!).
It was pretty fun to play tour guide... although I think I exhausted my guests. And talked too much.

lukey reads up on the sultanahmet mosque. at the sultanahmet mosque. (proof that you can ask him anything!)

shrubbery in the shape of crescent and star- nationalism at its most decorative.

awed inside the ornate + melodramatic sultanahmet cami (blue mosque)

hagia sofia from the outside. one of us was photo-shy

istanbul in spring = plenty of tulips!

hmm should we be touching these? remains from the 2nd hagia sofia (the current standing is the third edition - both the first and second burned down)

mom loved the iron screen on the hagia sofia's library (from its ottoman days as the aya sofya mosque)

a view from inside the cistern that provided water to the hagia sofia complex in byzantine times.

wandering around near istanbul university.

view from the süleymaniye mosque complex. looking across the golden horn to the north section of the european side.

süleymaniye cami at nightfall.

jet lag is rough in the am. (@ hotel turkish breakfast)

pre-wandering geography lesson at the hotel.

ferry ride along the bosphorus, the strait that separates europe from asia and connects the black sea (to the north) to the sea of marmara (which leads, through the dardanelles, to the aegean sea and then to the mediterranean!). (these incredible houses are in bebek, a fancy shmancy old istanbul suburb)

i thought this mosque was pretty rad. looks like someone stuck two minarets on a box-basilica.

"yes please, fish sandwich?" (anadolu kavağı)

luke giving the camera some sass at yoros castle, our rad bosphorus tour destination.

we made it to the castle! (yoros castle)

another make-shift group shot, with the kale.

chillin'

huggin'

climbin' the walls

real group shot at yoros castle, overlooking the bosphorus!

egyptian spice bazaar, by which i mean stampede.

remarking upon the architectural grandeur of st savior in chora. (Edirnekapı)

this is what we were looking at. (st. savior in chora)

a fresco on the ceiling of st. savior in chora's funerary wing, depicting the judgement of souls (the red on the bottom right is the river of damned souls to hell... the living grovel on the right)- christ at the center, surrounded by mary + john the baptist + a cadre of important halo-clad judges. this scene was meant to depict the benefactor of the church's (theodore metochites') own judgement after death...for some reason, i'm not convinced that he expected to get into the kingdom of heaven.

apparently, spongebob sells sugar cubes in turkey

mmmmmm, turkkahve! (she later spilled out all the grinds to get her fortune...i don't think our waiter enjoyed the gooey mess.)

crazily enough, mom said this door resembles the one on her grandmother's old house in boston (un-dilapidated, of course). weird part? she was also #56. (Edirnekapı)

okay, i'm ready to move in here. please note and enjoy the general bodaciousness. and the poster on the door.

make-shift three person shot by the land walls

no idea. attribute it to our silliness. but check out the reconstructed land-wall tower, complete with turkish flag in the background. istanbul's "world heritage site" status is actually in jeopardy because of its many poor disneyworld-esque reconstructions that don't abide by the UNESCO rules..

he's so handsome! (topkapı palace, the seat of the ottoman empire for centuries. looking over the bosphorus.)

luke spent a long time in the armor/weaponry room. (topkapı)

awww. standing by one of the libraries in the third courtyard of the palace. (topkapı)

sultan luke and sultana hazel, ruling over the fountain. (topkapı palace)

this is me in the circumcision room, source of pain for many an ottoman prince.

mom n' luke pose at topkapı palace.

...and off to Alanya we went!