A Minnesotan In Istanbul

The second leg of our honeymoon took us to Istanbul! Apparently, Paris is a natural choice for a honeymoon and Istanbul is not, as many people asked us why we chose Istanbul?

I have been interested in Istanbul since I was a freshman in college. I traveled on an amazing semester long travel program that has some annual stops and has a few global stops that can change year to year, depending on cost, safety and the professors leading the trip. When I first heard about the program it was scheduled to stop in Istanbul, but by the time I went on the trip Istanbul had been replaced by Athens and Rome. Now, I'm certainly not complaining about Athens and Rome, but Istanbul is just so darn INTERESTING! It was the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire for a long time and then was conquered by the Ottoman and there were sultans! When I was young, I thought writers and storytellers were really creative and didn't know that places like Siam and Constantinople were real, and you could visit them.

When we decided that we were going to go on a honeymoon, and we could decide to go wherever we wanted, we enthusiastically decided to go to Istanbul.

We had a great time and were able to meet up with a friend from college. Again, we had a great time eating and drinking but really enjoyed just walking around and basking in the clear 45 degree weather.

And again, we saw some awesome stuff...

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

The Harbor and Some Boats and Some Fish

And Asia!

We also spent some time at the Grand Bazaar, enjoyed street food, explored public transportation and did some good old people watching. But, because I don't post people pictures and because we spent a lot of time with the camera in the bag so we didn't stick out more than necessary, I don't have pictures of those to post. But come over for dinner and you'll see more than you probably want!