Long time, no blog. I apologize. I've been busy with other things ... and Paris. More on that later. But I'm going to ENGLAND and SPAIN next week so I have to get my blog all up to date before I bombard you again with fantastic stories and photos. Be prepared.
Our last stop in Istanbul was the
Topkapi Palace, the palace of the sultan who ruled the Ottoman empire--from modern day Iraq to Greece, and then the Eastern European countries down to Northern Africa. It had three separate courtyards and so much to see! Everywhere we went, there were richly patterned tiles. My favorite part was the harem--there are entire rooms with different sections of tiles, the entire way around. The harem was huge! So many winding passageways. I'll try to keep my pictures to a minimum ...
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| Detail of a tile |
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One of the sultans decided to build this children's library. How nice.
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How nice would it be to hang out and read here?
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One of the courtyards in the harem. There are a lot of courtyards and a lot of rooms.
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Detail in one of the ceilings.
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One of the rooms in the harem
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Then, after a quick lunch at a place called the Pudding Shop, we headed to the Grand Bazar. I tried my hand at haggling, and I'm proud to say I think I got a few good deals! The complex is huge, with thousands of shops and hundreds of streets. One of the girls I was with acted like an expert haggler--she got the price she wanted for just about everything!
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One (of many) entrance into the Grand Bazar
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Shopping! and haggling
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There are many, many shops.
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Our last night there we ate in a nice restaurant with a great view!
The next morning we had a "debrief" session in the hotel restaurant, which also had a great view! Go figure, it was sunny and beautiful in Istanbul on our last morning there. What a beautiful city!
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