Instanbul

Instanbul has been a dream. We started off Day 2 at the hippodrome - a huge stadium where they used to have chariot races. Today its just an open market area with a cool Egyptian obelisk that was brought over when the Ottoman Empire included Egypt. 

This open area is where the hippodrome used to be. 

The base of the obelisk contains murals sculpted to depict how the obelisk was transported and erected there. 

Next we got to go inside the Blue Mosque which Muslims still use to worship today. 

In front of the Blue Mosque with Thomas. 

With Kasdyn and Christina. And random tourist. Also Mike. 

Right outside the mosque there are faucets of running water where you clean yourself before going inside to worship. 

Beautiful interior comprised of 20,000 tiles. 

With Lauren inside the mosque - the women have to cover their hair with a scarf inside the mosques.

After the Blue Mosque we walked over to the Topkapi Palace where Turkish sultans lived for over 400 years. Over 4,000 people lived or worked at this place at a time while it was operating! It's now a museum with showcase rooms for artifacts from years 1450-1850.

The palace is right on the coast of the Bosporus Strait. 

With Brother and Sister Chadwick on palace grounds. 

Mackenzie and Christeen saving me from the Circumsision Room...

Just a fun group selfie on the palace grounds. 

The palace was amazing and we got to see some weapons on display that were beautiful. They looked like the inspiration for Lord of the Rings weaponry. So. Cool. 

We walked over to the Cistern Basilica which was pretty sweet!!

They stored water underground here...

Next stop was the Grand Bazaar!

Took a group selfie on the way...

...and had the most stressful time of my life trying to get through that maze of tourist traps. 

Sleazy salesman in action...

But I made an authentic clothing purchase which made up for it :) Maybe I'll debut it later this week...

Then we went on a short cruise on the Bosporus Strait which was so much fun!! I love boats and water :)

With Ashley! And Jessica... #photobomb

With Ava, Hunter, and Mackenzie...

With the Turkey flag behind us! (With Kasdyn, Diane, Lauren, Michelle, Marianna, Meagan, and Mackenzie)

The last scheduled activity was watching the Whirling Dervishes which was a really interesting experience. We, in essence, were observing a very sacred and symbolic ritual of a small Muslim sect. It was beautifully repetitive and understandably not that entertaining. I think I gained much more from my post-Whirling Dervish reflection than I did during the presentation. 

The most fun part of the day was getting back to our hotel and only having an hour and a half to get to Taksim Square and back. We booked it with Drew, Christeen, Mackenzie, and Jordan to the metro, ran down literally FIVE long flights of escalators and got on to the train minutes after arriving at the platform. 

Metro platform selfie :)

Then we had WAAAYYYY too much fun on the actual train. 

Yes, of course that's another group selfie...

Then we arrived and walked around for twenty minutes which was enough time to buy roasted nuts, chocolate, and ice cream, and get a feel for that part of the city. 

You could say we made friends with the locals pretty easy...

Then we took a taxi back to the hotel which gave us a great view of the part of the city that we hadn't seen yet. It was perfect. 

I've only been here two days but Instanbul has helped me see that Turkey is a wonderful place. Not to mention the people who came to the JC are amazing and fun :)