Istanbul, Turkey was kind of a random, last minute place we were fortunate to be able to visit! With Pat’s job, he travels a lot. This month he was asked to go to Turkey for 5 days… so we tagged along with him! P.S. To join as a penpal, sign up here!

Istanbul is a large city, almost two times the size of NYC, to give some reference. Formerly known as Constantinople, the history of the city is so rich dating back to year 330 A.D. We stayed in a part of the city known as Masalak, the “business district.” Istanbul was so unique to any place we’ve visited yet in Europe. Everything from the religious presence of the people, the different clothing styles, the architecture, food, etc. It was familiar to be around a more “westernized” city with Starbucks at every corner, familiar shops and English speaking people everywhere. However, there was also security guards everywhere, metal detectors, under-car mirrors looking for explosives entering hotels and main buildings definitely put up our defenses walking about the city… but the people of Turkey we the kindest people we’ve encountered on our travels. 

The highlight of our trip was visiting a traditional Turkish Bath. It was in a bath house that was recently renovated but dates back to 1578. One of the few that allow children, the girls came with me to an all women’s bath experience. Where it starts with a nice cool “sherbet” drink, followed by steaming on a marble sauna room, followed by a serious scrub-down with light massage and soap and shampoo, followed by relaxing in your towels with Turkish tea and lemonade. 

We also visited the Grand Bazaar, which is credited for being the center of trade and essentially the oldest shopping mall in the world. We tried and enjoyed the Turkish delights, Turkish tea and Turkish  coffee, baklava, shwarmas, doners and many other dishes to the region. The food was fantastic! It was also very inexpensive! Alcohol however, being a primarily muslim country and visiting during ramadan made it difficult to find and very very expensive. 

One part of the trip that stood out to us all also was the Tulip Festival. I always wanted to go to Holland/Amsterdam to see the tulips… but did you know that tulips actually originated in western Asia/Turkey region? They were then brought from here to Holland. So we got to see the original location of the tulip festival at Emirgan Park… which was also an EPIC kids play ground. There were at least 6 different playgrounds, waterfalls, beautiful displays of tulips, little kiosks for coffee and snacks… we could have spent so much more time there. But it was our last event before heading to the fanciest, most bougie airports we’ve seen yet and making the trip home. 

We also picked out a few Turkish favorites for one of our penpalz, and cannot wait for you to receive it! Teagan picked out a scarf at the Grand Bazaar, we got a keychain, some Turkish delights and of course… postcards!

Would we recommend a visit to Istanbul? Yes and no. Places like Seville, Bavaria, and Sicily higher on our bucket-lists, it was unique and we are so glad we had the opportunity to go!

Next up: Normandy, France for D-Day Remembrance.