Istanbul Scrapbook: Day 4

I’ve got travel on the brain over here. I’m just back from Seattle, and it’s about two weeks (eee!) until we leave for Greece. Also, I invited myself on a trip to Oakland in October (so! excited!), and Eric was just asked to speak at a conference in Santa Fe in November (you better believe I sent him an all caps reply to that email). An embarrassment of riches! I am feeling so incredibly lucky for all the peregrinations of 2013, since I know the time will come when it won’t be so easy for us to travel. But until then, we are making hay while the sun is shining! And so here we are on Istanbul Day 4, a day of great exploration.

I love that this first page is mostly scenes from around our neighborhood. We rented an apartment in Galata, and we were so happy to be on that side of the city.

We went up on the roof every single day, and this afternoon the skies were stunningly clear, the water an endless string of sapphires.

This was our little neighborhood market, where we stopped almost every day for bread and water. Look at the size of those cabbages! They’re on the right, next to the black traffic guard.

Tea, tea, tea. We saw these tiny tulip glasses on every window ledge. Of course, we had to bring some back with us.

The day’s adventures are chronicled here, including our beloved funicular, which saved us from countless trudges up the steep hill to Galata.

We missed the Blue Mosque the day before, but this time we made it in. The vastness of the space inside is just overwhelming. There’s a preternatural hush that never failed to move me.

And…the spice bazaar! Everyone I know who’s been to Istanbul winds up here three or four times, and we were no exception. We just kept wanting more deliciousness to take home, for ourselves and for others.

We also had lunch in the most lovely and spacious place above the bazaar, and we found another old bazaar behind the mosque. A red letter day! By the end of our exploring, we were so thirsty that we sat down at a cafe and ordered the biggest bottle of water they had. And then it was time to return to our rooftop for another look at the gorgeous view.