Welcome to our 30th European country of Turkey!
After spending 5 months in Europe this summer,
we left the mountains behind and came to Asia…kind of.
Technically Istanbul, Turkey is on the border of both Europe and Asia,
so we're kind of in two continents at once.
As always, we're starting our day with breakfast, but I have a hard time understanding the accents.
So I'm not really sure what we ordered,
but we think it's a Turkish breakfast spread with tea and Turkish coffee?
We're Jana and Brett.
Since our honeymoon 9 years ago, we’ve spent more than 24 months living and traveling in Europe.
So far, we've ventered to 25 countries, but our goal is to visit every country in Europe
and to explore every nook and cranny of the Alps.
Okay. I was excited about this, but I had no idea.
They just came and started bringing out plate after plate after plate and different jams.
I don't even know what half of this is, but I'm going to eat it all and it looks incredible.
So when they first brought this tea, we had absolutely no idea what to do. Like, what?!
So this is what they said. There's tea in one and water in the other,
and you just pour and mix to the preference that you like.
And then we were like, Oh, that makes sense! Ta-da, brilliant!
Don't yell at me, but I don't think I've ever had falafel, so when I tried this,
in addition to it being amazing, I was trying
to think of what it tastes like. And this is terrible, but it reminds me of Hushpuppies.
However, like, way better Hushpuppies than I've ever had!
Okay, my favorite item on the entire table is the donut in the tahini sauce with grape juice.
Of course, Mr. Sweet Tooth would choose that.
But of these other dips, I think the roasted red pepper and then the one with zucchini.
Those are both so good.
Hands down, my favorite thing is the falafel. This is so good.
So much that they even brought us an extra plate.
But I was most surprised in a good way, by the beet dip. And then after that,
tahini with grape concentrate. I've just never had anything like that before.
But we've tried everything on the table now,
and I still don't think we're going to be able to eat all this. There's so much food.
This breakfast was absolutely amazing. I wish we had bigger bellies so we could fit more of it in.
But there is one more surprise in store for us here.
We met one of the owners of the restaurant, and he was so nice,
and he brought us to their second location just down the street
to show us these amazing mosaic lanterns and to enjoy a few drinks.
This is so cool! So this might just be
a regular orange juice, but the fact that they put it in dry ice just makes it way more fun.
You might have noticed that we walked into a Lebanese restaurant,
even though we're here in Istanbul,
but you'll have to forgive us because not only was it super
close to our apartment, but it was also amazing.
And no breakfast is complete without a coffee.
So here goes my Lebanese coffee.
Potent, much like a coffee from Turkey or Lebanon would be.
It's strong. I think I'm going to feel it later.
Oh, by the way, I have a secret message.
According to Google Translate, “an unhoped way at the moment the future will come is a
will reveal the idea a business positive result will give a serious sweater you will get it.”
What does that even mean? The “serious sweater” really got me.
We could end the day here and I'd be totally satisfied.
But there's more to do in Istanbul than just eat. So let's get going.
We're going to play tourist today because we've never been in Istanbul before.
And we're starting in a park because we just like parks, but also because
there's an interesting fact here about the tulip.
The tulip originated here. Now,
they're not in bloom right now, but they were actually imported to the Netherlands just because
they loved them so much. But Turkey should really be getting the credit for the tulips.
The Hagia Sophia was built as a Byzantine Christian cathedral in A.D. 360. Then it
became a Catholic cathedral. And then a mosque, and then a museum, and now it's a mosque again.
So we're going to see if we can go inside.
This place is absolutely beautiful, and we didn't know this, but you can't wear your shoes inside.
So you put them out in the hallway and then you
walk in and everyone's barefoot and there's soft, plush carpet.
And we even got to hear a little bit at the end of their service.
The Basilica Cistern is… closed, unfortunately.
So we'll have to see it next time we come to Istanbul.
But water was transported here from a forest about 12 miles away,
and then distributed to various parts of the city.
And if I'm thinking correctly, I think this was featured in one of
the James Bond films that was filmed here in Istanbul. We'll have to check on that.
All right, I've got to say that Istanbul is nothing like what I expected.
I thought it would be this big, chaotic, loud, noisy city. But actually, it's fascinating.
We've been in cathedrals all over Europe because it's predominantly Catholic,
but going to a mosque for the first time was so unique.
Like, I am fascinated to learn more about the history here.
So far Istanbul is really intriguing. And two days is definitely not enough time.
And we're going to have to come back and explore more of the city again.
I'm so sad. The number one thing I wanted to see here in Istanbul was the Blue Mosque,
and it's completely under construction, renovation, maintenance.
So if you go in there, you can't see anything anyway.
So we'll pretend like you can see all of the beautiful blue but you'll just have to use your imagination.
Even though we can't see inside the Blue Mosque, I think it's really cool how right
here they have all this information where you can learn more about their culture and religion.
As a Christian, I find that I'm often feeling
like I'm misunderstood by people in what I believe and why I believe it.
And I imagine that a lot of Muslims feel the same way.
So I think it's really cool that we can just get a little bit of a bigger glimpse into who they are
and what they believe. And that's just as good as seeing the Blue Mosque.
We met a tour guide outside of the Blue Mosque who said this
was the next best place to visit, and he was right. It is beautiful.
Well, guys, we're just killing it because apparently the Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays.
Lame.
This is just the reality of travel. We only have one weekend here in Istanbul, and we
tried to pack everything in we could, but it's out of our control that it's closed.
So now we are definitely going to have to come back to Istanbul again in the future.
This may not be the Grand Bazaar, but this is more like it. Let's go explore the Spice Market.
Those bowls were too pretty to pass up. So I got four of them for basically $4,
which is awesome in my book.
I don't know where I heard about this candy shop,
but it's been in the family for five generations, opened in 1865.
We stopped in. Nobody in there spoke English,
but I used Google Translate to ask what the different pieces of candy were.
We ended up trying four pieces of Turkish delight plus
we bought these. And when we went to pay, they wouldn't take our money!
They were so nice and we're going to enjoy these and the memories we have of them while we were here.
Plus, you can't come to Turkey without trying some of this stuff. It's simply delightful.
So I know the Blue Mosque was closed, but this just about makes up for it.
This is the Galata Bridge, which separates the
touristy place we were back there from the neighborhood we're staying over here.
So we're crossing on our way to find some food for our evening.
Istanbul is known for having lots of old stuff, but did you know
they have the second oldest underground tram in the world? And we're about to ride it.
Our Airbnb host recommended this restaurant.
We came here last night and it was so good we're back for round 2.
I think I've decided that Turkish food
might be one of my new favorite foods. We decided to share a kebab wrap.
These kebabs are so delicious.
This one has a little bit of spiciness to it, even though we ordered mild.
Meat and tomatoes and cheddar cheese. For real, I really like Turkish food
And then we got this awesome appetizer platter of a bunch of different things, like hummus and tabouli.
But our favorite is this roasted red pepper, walnut, and pomegranate dip. It is delicious.
And the pita bread thingies — in every single one of these dips — totally amazing.
Today was an awesome way to spend our last day in Europe.
We've spent five months here this summer, and this is now our last meal already.
Tomorrow we fly home on some sweet business class seats.
But don't worry because we can't stay away from Europe for long