Blog

Our second full day in Istanbul was awesome. We rode the subway down to Sultanahmet which is the old part of Istanbul. We walked around the Aya Sofya, checked out the Blue Mosque and toured Topkapi Palace. The architecture of these buildings is unbelievable and leaves you with a sense of awe at the juxtaposition of ancient history in a large and modern city. My favorite part of our day was touring the harem at Topkapi Palace — very interesting to imagine the life of the Sultan and his court. After touring we went back to our hotel, the Ansen Suites, and had a nice afternoon siesta. We spent the night strolling down Beyoglu’s main promenade, Istiklai Caddesi. We had a cocktail at the “so hip it hurts” 360, then checked out Taksim Square before making our way back down toward our hotel where we had a fantastic Turkish dinner. We sampled the Raki (a strong licorice-flavored drink), which neither of us liked, before calling it a night.