Lets Talk About Istanbul…

As a person who has a degree in history I love when I can step walk in history’s footsteps. I have long been fascinated by the Byzantium and Ottoman empires. Love the bright colors and textures of Turkish rugs. Before I left I googled all the “top things to do” travel posts and realized that the people who wrote them were travelers passing through while I was looking to visit Turkey (Türkiye). I was wanting to peek into her eyes and see her past lives.

The realization happened while reading a someone’s places to avoid list and on there was the Grand Bazaar. According to this writer it was a tourist trap full of hawkers. Its a bazaar what did you thing it would be full of? More over it isn’t just a bazaar it is the bazaar. The oldest marketplaces in the world and it is massive. The architecture its history, how can anyone pass it by? Ignore the “experts” and see the places that you want to see. We were there for 9 days and I saw all the tourist things I could and quite a bit non-tourist things. I learned to plan out my days adventure by starting out with the places that were more popular first as to get a jump on the crowds. I had amazing food, saw amazing things, had the best baklava I have ever had, got my Turkish tea cups (down a side street away from the popular areas) and several bars of Turkish soap. I learned that the craziest day to visit the spice market was mid day on a Saturday; and that the walk to Galata Tower from the Bosphorus Bridge will make you thighs and booty burn.