We return to Istanbul

Alright you guys, I know I tag along on a ton of Ryan's business trips. This is basically my life.  Some of them are to some not so exciting places:  Cleveland, Boise, Detroit.... 

Yawn
Yawn
Yawn  - oh, no offense Cleveland, Boise, or Detroit.

However, a few weeks ago, we had the wonderful opportunity to visit Istanbul for the second time in two years!

Here is a quick run down of the peeps-

There was a total of 6 people going:  
Two attorneys (Ryan and Ross)
Plus their girlfriends (Danielle and Me)
and two court reporters (Janet and Jerri)

So we totally had limited time there.  We literally left Chicago on a Wednesday and I was back to work the following Tuesday.  With the 11 hour flight and the time difference... this left us with about 4 days to sight see.

11 hour flight - ugh

Look who is sleepy

These two slept the whole way

So what did we do?

Here is the breakdown:

Day 1-(Thurs)

Arrived at 5pm, customs, taxi, yada yada yada... 
Basically arrived to hotel (The Grand Hyatt in Taksim) and found our free bottles of vino and had a mini party in our humongo hotel suite (bigger than our current townhouse).  I won't mention the cranky European neighbor that knocked on our door to yell at us.  Lets just say we had  a few cocktails and the music was pretty loud. My apologies to the neighbors.  

club lounge pre-party

Turkish wine = headache

Day 2-(Fri)

 Nothing like a Turkish headache to start the morning. How much wine did we drink??
 This was our first Real Day to see the city.  Time to guzzle some agua and pop a few excedrin.  No time for headaches on vacay.
Eventually we figured out there was a train close to the hotel (after a long walk down a hill).  So we boarded the train to Sultanahmet for the cheap price of $4TL per person... this is roughly $2 USD each, not bad at all!

here is the train

Ross and Danielle on train

Here is what we saw:

Blue Mosque
Hagia Sophia
The grand bazaar

Lets talk about the Grand Bazaar....

This place is one of the oldest and largest shopping destinations in the entire world!!  It has 22 entrances and is basically a maze of shops in which visitors can haggle and barter for ceramics, leather, spices, tea, scarves, etc.  They say anywhere from 250,000-400,000 people walk through the bazaar on any given day!  

inside the bazaar

  

difficult decisions on vacation

The minute you simply look at an item... the negotiating process begins.  Get ready to haggle!

shop til you drop

Ceramics galore

Turkish Deiight

ross and danielle out by the "not free" WC

spices!!

And then there is the Blue Mosque.  Words cannot describe this structure and my pics certainly do not do it justice.  
Now this is an active mosque that was built in 1609.  By active, I mean they still pray there 5 times a day. This also means we were unable to go inside (at that moment), but standing outside this structure was amazing in itself.  Remember, we have been to Istanbul before, so we have already seen this structure and we were still in awe of its beauty!

The Blue Mosque!!

Ross in front of the Hagia Sophia

Directly across from the Blue Mosque stood another amazing structure known as the Hagia Sophia. 
The words "hagia sophia" literally mean "holy wisdom" in Latin. Now they began building this beauty in 537!! 
This was originally built as a Greek Orthodox church, and then eventually converted to a Mosque.  At some point they converted it to a museum and this is how it remains currently.  

Ryan and I posing in front of Hagia Sophia

Where did he get corn?

Standing between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia is a sight beyond words.

Okay lets move on....
Dinner, drinks, trains - you get the point. It is amazing.

Day 3- (Sat)
How could it already be day 3??  I dunno but it is. 

I think I heard the most popular thing to do in Istanbul is the boat tour on the Bosphorus Strait.  

View of the Bosphorus

Perhaps this was my absolute fav thing to do in Istanbul.  Where else can you take a boat and have two continents on either side of you?  For about $12 USD this boat goes up the Bosphorus Straight all the way to the opening of the Black Sea.  Then the boat stops in a town called Anadolu Kavagi (technically in Asia) for a seafood lunch on the water. The entire excursion takes about 5 hours with breathtaking views of the city the entire way.

Europe on our right, Asia on our Left

Janet and Jerri shopping

Ross and Danielle on the Bosphorus 

Beer Break

View from the boat

Day 4- (Sun)

At this point  I am secretly freaking out.  I am enjoying this city and I realize it is almost over.  In fact, this is our last full day to see things!!

Oh no

The group sort of separates for a bit.  Danielle and Ross go see the Topkapi Palace  while the girls sleep in a bit.  Ryan and I walk.  We walk and walk and walk. We see every nook and crannie on Istiklal Street during the day.  We explore Taksim Square and the surrounding areas.  This is a nice, relaxing, stress-free morning.

Istiklal Stret 

Taksim square

Eventually we round up Janet and Jerri in which we wind up at the "Spice Market".  This day proved to be an adventure for us bartering and laughing our way through the maze of shops. 

Our favorite shop

Buying perfume

negotiating

another mosque

Istiklal Street

For our last night in Istanbul... we decide to do a group dinner on Istaklal street. 

Apparently over 3 million people per day are said to visit this street.  It is a 1.4 km long street filled with boutiques, restaurants, bars, and galleries. This is where the nightlife is!

360 lounge

biggest wine list ever

Janet and Jerri post dinner drinks

Octopus every day

Our final night

And here are just a few other pics from the trip:

Tea Options

Chestnuts and corn

people on the street

one of our group dinners

walking up to the Galata tower

rooftops make us happy

The crew

fishing village

Alright, so the party is over and day 4 comes to an end. 

Now what?


Day 5- Time to head home!  

BOO HOO 

If I was rich, I would stay longer... 

unfortunately we have to work.

11 hours later we find ourselves back to reality in Chicago.  

Would I go back??  

In a heartbeat.

The Booze Cruise

Our boat for 3 nights

Everyone knows there are three types of people who go on cruises:
1. The Newly-Wed
2. The Nearly-Dead
3. The Over-Fed

So when we went on a boat a few weeks ago, we were fully prepared to spend a long weekend mingling with members of all three of these types of peeps.  The itinerary was simple.  We would depart Miami and peacefully cruise our way to the Bahamas for a brief 3 nights. We had no intentions other than relaxing and getting a little bit of beach time.   

The party bar

here is our room

of course we went here

Early morning walk around ship

However, what we did not anticipate is an entire new group of people who seem to be attracted to the quick weekend cruises:  

These are the Drunk Messes

From the moment we stepped out of our room, we knew this boat was different.

No oldies 
No kids
No romantic lovers 
Huh?  
Were we on a cruise?

It was more like a Vegas Club

There was a DJ, dancing, bottle service, bachelor parties, oh... and fist-fighting.

Fist-fighting?  On a Cruise? 
Oh yes 

The party has begun

Remember when I said bottle service.  Yeah, these clowns were ordering whole bottles of Grey Goose, Johnnie Walker, and Patron poolside.  

It was just a matter of time before the douche bags started fighting.  

In our case it was just about two hours into the cruise in which the pool fight broke out.  We saw the whole thing, yet we have no idea what happened.  Does that make sense?


Apparently the Captain of the ship made a few announcements (we could not hear them) and the boat turned around.  Next thing we knew.... we could once again see the Miami skyline.

Hi Miami

Uh oh

So I think we dropped of one "drunk messes".  Done.  Glad it wasn't me. 
Now we can enjoy our night and wake up in Nassau.  

Stay with me here....

Day 2

We wake up, head to breakfast, and get on our gear.  Its time to explore Nassau!!

Right?

Not so fast again

Unfortunately, we see an island near us and it is not Nassau.  It is the fake Norwegian Cruise Island.   They call it "Great Stirrup Cay" or something. Doesn't matter what it is cuz it is gorgeous!

yes that is a stingray

Apparently there was some sort of hurricane or tropical storm brewing so we had a change in the itinerary.

Oh well.... so day 2 is now a beach day!!!

skin safety before vanity

These private islands are amazing.  They offer all the amenities anyone could want.  Paddle boarding, snorkeling, beaches, free food, music, blah blah blah.

pure joy-blah blah blah

king of the beach

We had a fabulous beach day, that is  all you need to know.  Oh, did I mention that I ran into an old friend named Marie on the boat?

Marie and I

Yeah, can you believe it? 

We hung out with Marie and Laura the entire beach day.

Marie and Laura

Day 3

Are you still with me?



I guess mother nature was on our side. We diverted the stupid storm and ended up in Nassau on day 3 after all. 

The freshest conch ever

The official entrance

of course we went here 

straw market

Atlantis

weird fish

Day 4- goes as follows

Wake up

find outrageous bar tab hung on the door

sober up  (kind of) 

We spent how much on booze?

Ugh... I have a headache

Get me off this damn boat

moral of the story:  A 3 night cruise to the Bahamas is a total cover up.  It is a weekend booze cruise in disguise.  

Excuse me while I get my liver checked.

stay tuned.... I am currently typing exciting stories about Istanbul and New Orleans (again).