a visit from kristin

last week i was fortunate to have another visitor, this time an old college friend who i sang with in an a capella group, 'the pegs.' this was kristin's first time abroad (after spending the previous week in london) and ben & i wanted to make it a positive experience. we spent the first few days in ankara before flying to istanbul for a long weekend on thursday night. here are the photos (just click on the photos to enlarge):

iced coffee break after walking downtown ankara

swans & geese in 'swan park'

shopping for fruit at the market with ben

this girl never passed up the opportunity to try the local fare- even at the airport

we arrived in istanbul in time for the first day of ramazan. we passed by a mosque where they were having friday prayer in the afternoon sun.

it's a beautiful mosque, right on the bosphorus

later we stopped by a family friend's store where we learned about kilims and carpets. really interesting & beautiful stuff... i hope to have a collection of these some day!

after grabbing a bite to eat we made our way from ortakoy to bebek via the bosphorus walkway, passing by beautiful ottoman-style architecture and boats along the way.

that evening we headed to taksim for a walk down istiklal boulevard

and dinner & drinks atop the richmond hotel, where kristin tried a new way of eating fish

she was determined to leave her mark on istanbul... even if noone understood it.

on saturday we did the 'tourist' walk, starting at the spice bazaar before heading to sultanahmet where we visited the grand bazaar & countless antique shops and then ending at blue mosque.


kristin bought a gold necklace from this fellow after i bargained with him for about 30 minutes in a combination of turkish & english. i told him my story, that we were students without any money. he told me about his 'lowest price,' and how we were the first sale of the day & he would make more money... later we were able to get the necklace for 50 lira less than the 'final offer.' in the end we became friends & kristin got her necklace. this is what makes shopping at the bazaar fun!
outside the mosque at the spice bazaar i found men preparing for noon-time prayer
the sun was very hot that day and i could only imagine how difficult it must have been for those who were fasting for ramazan. you do notice a difference in people, especially toward the end of the day, when they are understandably dazed from thirst & hunger.
blue mosque in the late-afternoon light. beautiful!
on our last night in istanbul we encountered this group of cats on an evening walk in nisantasi. a passer-by explained that there are hundreds of them living in this park, and that they are a 'famous cat family' of istanbul. they did kind of look alike...
we ended the night with drinks on the roof of our hotel, overlooking the bosphorous... perfect. as we would have said in college, 'good times!'