This is the entrance to Istanbul University
A minaret
What we thought was the Blue Mosque (the WHOLE day until we actually found the REAL Blue Mosque!) Needless to say, we felt a little dumb when we saw the real one, it blew this one away in size and design! This turned out to be the Beyazit Mosque.
The men must wash their feet before they enter
Inside the courtyard of the Beyazit Mosque
Inside the Beyazit Mosque. They gave us shawls to cover ourselves with and we got to sit in the back, we got there just as mid-day prayer was starting. The actual prayer last an hour and they do it 5 times a day, they all come from where ever they are in the city when the call to prayer is sounded and then they gather in the mosque. Towards the end they all crowd up front and they all do their prayer in unison, standing and kneeling at the same time. The man leading prayer is in the front,we couldn't figure out if he was actually singing the prayer or if it was a recording.
The ACTUAL Blue Mosque! Haha...we still didn't know this was the Blue Mosque yet, we thought this one must be Hagia Sophia....we did not do very good, it was my fault I bought an Istanbul travel book and then left it in London.
Inside the Beyazit Mosque. They gave us shawls to cover ourselves with and we got to sit in the back, we got there just as mid-day prayer was starting. The actual prayer last an hour and they do it 5 times a day, they all come from where ever they are in the city when the call to prayer is sounded and then they gather in the mosque. Towards the end they all crowd up front and they all do their prayer in unison, standing and kneeling at the same time. The man leading prayer is in the front,we couldn't figure out if he was actually singing the prayer or if it was a recording.
The ACTUAL Blue Mosque! Haha...we still didn't know this was the Blue Mosque yet, we thought this one must be Hagia Sophia....we did not do very good, it was my fault I bought an Istanbul travel book and then left it in London.
So this little boy's dad really wanted to take a picture of his son with me. I guess it was the blond hair....kinda weird, but oh well.
The Blue Mosque peeking over the trees
The entrance to the Blue Mosque...I still think we thought it was Hagia Sophia.
The men washing their feet
Inside the Blue Mosque
Insane amount of detail
This is actually Hagia Sophia...it is directly in front of you when you exit the Blue Mosque, we felt pretty stupid! Hagia Sophia isn't actually a mosque it is now a museum. It actually has both Islamic and Christian symbols in it. We ran out of time to go to Hagia Sophia this day, so we did it the next day. Instead we found a nice rooftop restaurant and had some snacks and drinks and enjoyed the weather and the view!
The view of the Blue Mosque from our rooftop bar
View across to the Asian side of Istanbul
I love the reflection of the Blue Mosque in the glass on the left!
The Cistern Museum. We were unsure of what this was exactly, but I think it was a water storage facility for the city way back in the day when the Romans were around. It was underground, they had it lit up pretty
You can see the reflection of the ceiling in the water, a pretty cool picture
They had a statue of Minerva down there too. I think she is to ward off evil spirits, I have no idea why she is upside down though.
A cool wall in the city made up of smashed pottery
Some cool buildings that were painted all funky
There were chickens and cats all over the streets, gross
Our friendly rug man in the Grand Bazaar. He has a store in Houston! That was my favorite rug, unfortunately I didn't have the $2600 he wanted for it.
Mary, me and Annie in the run shop after finishing our Elma Cay! They love to give you tea there...as if that would convince us to buy thousand dollar rugs!
More pretty lanterns in the Grand Bazaar. The one I bought looks like the silver one in the upper right hand corner! I love the way it looks in my bedroom!
This became out traditional pose before we went out at night. We became friends with the night manager of the hotel...he would take our picture and give us suggestions, call us a taxi and then wait up for us to get home.
This was the night we went to Reina, it was a super swanky night club right by the Bosphorus River. The bridge you see is the bridge to the Asian side. The whole club was outside, it had amazing views, great music and some of the most beautiful people ever. This isn't a great picture of it, and I don't really have a good one. But you can check out their website:) We had a blast, we got home at 5 AM, our friend at the front desk was waiting for us!
The Blue Mosque peeking over the trees
The entrance to the Blue Mosque...I still think we thought it was Hagia Sophia.
The men washing their feet
Inside the Blue Mosque
Insane amount of detail
This is actually Hagia Sophia...it is directly in front of you when you exit the Blue Mosque, we felt pretty stupid! Hagia Sophia isn't actually a mosque it is now a museum. It actually has both Islamic and Christian symbols in it. We ran out of time to go to Hagia Sophia this day, so we did it the next day. Instead we found a nice rooftop restaurant and had some snacks and drinks and enjoyed the weather and the view!
The view of the Blue Mosque from our rooftop bar
View across to the Asian side of Istanbul
I love the reflection of the Blue Mosque in the glass on the left!
The Cistern Museum. We were unsure of what this was exactly, but I think it was a water storage facility for the city way back in the day when the Romans were around. It was underground, they had it lit up pretty
You can see the reflection of the ceiling in the water, a pretty cool picture
They had a statue of Minerva down there too. I think she is to ward off evil spirits, I have no idea why she is upside down though.
A cool wall in the city made up of smashed pottery
Some cool buildings that were painted all funky
There were chickens and cats all over the streets, gross
Our friendly rug man in the Grand Bazaar. He has a store in Houston! That was my favorite rug, unfortunately I didn't have the $2600 he wanted for it.
Mary, me and Annie in the run shop after finishing our Elma Cay! They love to give you tea there...as if that would convince us to buy thousand dollar rugs!More pretty lanterns in the Grand Bazaar. The one I bought looks like the silver one in the upper right hand corner! I love the way it looks in my bedroom!
This became out traditional pose before we went out at night. We became friends with the night manager of the hotel...he would take our picture and give us suggestions, call us a taxi and then wait up for us to get home.This was the night we went to Reina, it was a super swanky night club right by the Bosphorus River. The bridge you see is the bridge to the Asian side. The whole club was outside, it had amazing views, great music and some of the most beautiful people ever. This isn't a great picture of it, and I don't really have a good one. But you can check out their website:) We had a blast, we got home at 5 AM, our friend at the front desk was waiting for us! 
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