Istanbul... not Constantinople

...I think I like it better that waaay!!! So, stop dancing around in circles and let me tell you where you should have your next Girlie Weekend. Istanbul has it all. Beautiful buildings, fun shopping, yummy/healthyish food, stellar sweets, and great places to stay.

On the street where we stayed. We stayed at Noah's Ark. Doesn't the name just make you feel safe?

Our first restaurant.

Logan was our VIP. He got us to the front of the lines everywhere and got us free stuff in the market plus discounts. He was so great the whole time. He's my #1 traveling buddy by far!

The Grand Market.

Notice the blue circle. It is call the "All seeing Eye." It is supposed to ward off evil (like a superstition) and if any shop owner had one, they would pin one on Logan.

Cool lanterns, huh?

Nope. The guy in the back wasn't checking me out. The men here LOVE babies and were enamored with Logan. They were doing all they could to get his attention and would gush over him. He was the center of attention where ever we went. And yes, I bought a carrot and cucumber from a street vendor. It was to balance out the 378 Baklava and Turkish delights I ate.

The Spice Market was less smelly than I thought it was going to be and we got to taste ALL kinds of Turkish Delights. My favorite was the Pomegranate Almond ones.

Mr VIP himself. Yea. Babies all over the world, eat your heart out.
This is on the glassed-in roof of where we stayed. This is where we ate breakfast every morning overlooking Istanbul. Beautiful!! We ate fresh figs, honeycomb, fruit, breads, and mystery cheeses to name a few.

The Cistern where there were two statues of Medusa. One was upside down and the other was laying on it's side. Pretty creepy, but a must see!

My favorite Mosque we went into.

I am not sure what these say, so if they say something derogatory, please let me know.

Again, these could say something pretty bad and none of the tourists would even know.
What we decided they should say--
The one on the left: Be nice to the stray cats (there are millions of them here)
The one on the right: I'm too sexy for this mosque.

This picture doesn't give them justice. Maybe it's the gray clouds. It was a tad chilly, but if we kept walking, it was just fine.

With the Isnik tiles which were all the rave and uber expensive!

We took a boat tour and we saw some pretty impressive palaces. Including the one where I will retire some day.

Doesn't he look like he is loving Turkey?
He did. He was with 5 moms 24-7. Who wouldn't?

Why can't our summer homes look this cool?

The 5 adventurous ladies who went to Istanbul without kids (except me) and husbands.
(Keesha, Angi, Dani, Shruthi, and Monique)

Who needs Burger King?

The Fountain outside the palace where I will retire someday.

My future guard who stands facing the river all day long.
This is Sultan's Palace. The bomb!!!

It really is the most amazing palace I have ever been in.
Okay, so I have only been into a dozen or so, but still. It's remarkable.

One of the million stray cats here. They are VERY well taken care of and it's not uncommon to see people bending down to pet them. We had to drag Angi away from them. :)

I finally know what real Turkish delight is and I do have to say that homemade baklava is just as good as baklava in Turkey. I still remember my first Baklava. Jamie R made it. Of course she would. What doesn't she make? And I fell in love with it. Ever since then, I have never had bad Baklava. If you have never had it, it is a gooey sweet flaky morsel of honey goodness. I've had Almond, chocolate, walnut, and pistachio. I'll take it all. If I would have known about it sooner, I would have had it for my wedding dessert. Cake? Overrated. Baklava is where it's at.

I think the only thing that would have made it a better weekend is if we could have found a place where we could have taken belly dancing lessons. I mean, you would think in the belly dancing capital of the world, they would have some sort of conference for that sort of thing. Next trip maybe. :)