Istanbul - Christmas 2011

After being in Europe for almost 5 years and having Istanbul as one of our "need to see" places, we finally made it there.  Perhaps it wasn't the most perfect timing given that we were traveling with an almost 2 year old and a 30 week pregnant me, but who knows what we'll be able to do once we have 2 little ones to worry about, so it seemed as good a time as any.

Something that made our lives easier was definitely getting a flight from Lugano on Swiss Air and not dealing with delays, major airport waiting times and shoddy baggage issue airlines.  Unfortunately where we have always had really good luck with apartments in foreign cities, we landed a dud in Istanbul.  Without rehashing the whole thing, the place was actually lovely looking and clean, but the smell of cigarette smoke kind of seemed to seep out of the ventilation, and we only noticed it after we got back from dinner on the first night.  We also were not expecting a rowdy party to be taking place just across the street and going until 3am.  The combination led to a bad first night and a decision to move the following morning.  We booked into the Doubletree by Hilton right in the Old Town, and splurged on a suite to allow Liam his own sleeping space.  Breakfast was included, and the location and space were perfect.  We could either walk or hop on the tram to get to all the major sights that one needs to see, and it was easy as can be to pop back to the hotel for Liam's nap times.

Weather was also not on our side, though the prediction of rain every day was a slight exaggeration and we managed to have a glimpse of sunshine on a day or two and a good amount of half days without any rain.  In the short 5 days we had we managed to fit in the Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, Spice bazaar, grand bazaar and a walk from Taksim square down the main pedestrian drag one evening.  That included finding the second best food of the trip - a deliciously delectable Belgian waffle with ice cream and fruit.  Yum.  Best meal of the trip was definitely the Turkish food we had with a former student of James'.  He took us to a fancy place past Taksim somewhere and picked out his favorites.  It was definitely heavy on the meat items but everything was absolutely delicious!

One of our favorite little areas to walk around in was behind the blue mosque in the sultanamet neighborhood.  They had some very sweet shops and boutiques as well as the most curious wood sided buildings that looked straight out of some town in the USA.  Our pictures aren't great because with the rain and my general tiredness I wasn't able to get a lot of fantastic shots.  I guess our memories will have to serve us!

Liam and me inside the Hagia Sofia

Hagia Sofia

James and Liam near the spice bazaar

At the spice market

Just a cute picture in some rare sunshine

The Hagia Sofia in sunshine (not the day we actually went in)

The Blue Mosque

Liam and the Bosphorus taken at Topkapi Palace

Buffet breakfast at the hotel - Liam held out for olives as often as possible

Our souvenirs from the trip included two modern styled kilim rugs (one small for the wall and a slightly bigger one), and 2 hanging mobiles for the kids.