Day 4

On our last day in Istanbul, we finished up our sightseeing, Yerin met the love of her life, and I met the love of mine.  At this point, Kelly's already been engaged for an entire day to the mussel-cart man, so we had some catching up to do.

We started off the day visiting the Cistern - which was equal parts creepy and awesome.

It was pretty amazing - just rows and rows of giant columns.

I was super jealous of these fish because they get to live here. :/

On our way out, we ran into this random stump in the road…

Turns out it's from the 4th Century - what you're looking at is what remains of the triumphal arch from which road distances to all parts of the empire were measured from.

So crazy.  Just another reminder that we're in Istanbul.

In order to help digest all of this history and culture, we decided it was time for an Apple Tea break.

We also had an eclair.  It was delicious.

We made a pit stop to look at some old sarcophagi (totally a normal thing to do)…

We had lunch at our favorite restaurant (where we had our first meal in Istanbul)…

Yummers.

After lunch, we bolted to the Topkapi Palace, where we planned on spending the rest of the afternoon exploring the monstrosity.  We expected there to be a line, which there was… and it looked like we were going to have to wait in in for hours… until, he showed up.

His name? Harun.  His profession? Professor of Politics at a nearby university.  His offer? To take us to the front of the line and to lead us on a guided tour of this place.

We, well I, of course accepted, because I am childishly naive, but in this case, it actually worked out pretty well. 

As soon as Harun spoke, the other two were sold on him as well.  We all sat there drooling a bit, hanging on his every brilliant word.  Almost like a Turkish Gil Grissom.

Yerin fell the deepest for Harun.  I wouldn't be surprised if she is signing up for his class as we speak.

<3

Model of the Topkapi Palace.

Gorgeous trees all over the grounds.  Some of their Cypress Trees were 200 years old.  

That's a lotta years.

Harun (<3) made us note the gorgeous tile that was used all over this place (… how could we not??).  They are Iznik tiles, containing quartz and valued at over 200 Euro per tile.

Biggest pool I've EVER SEEN.  Jealous.

Holes in the walls?  For the Sultan's turbans.  It seemed like a WTSM joke at the time, but I guess I should have known...

Gorgeous domes in each room <3

yikes.  :|

It makes you wonder, could a circumcision ceremony really have been that bad if you were in a room this beautiful?

(I guess I really have no right to speak on this issue.)

Tasting some of that French influence… in the Audience Hall.

Some other things that we feasted our eyes on at the Palace: a pair of 110-pound solid gold candlesticks , the world's second largest diamond (but most valuable), an insane collection of Emeralds - in one display, there was a clear box with giant smooth Emeralds up to the brim… like they were river stones or something.  Ugh.  Palaces.  Soooo over the top.

Clearly, this was Yerin's favorite part of the trip.

We had to bid farewell to Harun and went to find our last meal in Istanbul.  We ended up back at our spot because it simply felt right to end our trip there… and that is where I fell in love.

This little guy stole my heart and I shared my dinner with him, kind of like that scene from Lady & The Tramp, only instead of spaghetti, I gave him pieces of my kebab.  So romantic.

That blurry thing I'm sitting across from is not the cat, it's Kelly.  The cat is not pictured, but we're enjoying a romantic meal together.

We stayed here for the rest of the evening and wound down with some water pipe.  Our waiter (who we had seen every night we were here - and trusted with our lives) recommended a flavor - grape mint. 

He changed everything.  We are grape-mint-ers for life.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early and headed home.  Yerin and Kelly attempted to adjust themselves back to American life by hitting up Popeyes and Burger King at the airport.  I knew better.  If Istanbul made buttery biscuits as well as Popeyes does in the US… let's just say no one would be coming for the Simit.  

So, I stuck with the Simit.  When in Istanbul, right?

All in all, it was an amazing trip (as you can tell).  I accomplished everything I set out to do:

1.  Drink Turkish Beer and eat mussels.

2.  See the Hagia Sophia.

3.  Eat Baklava.

4.  Fall in love (alley cats count).

The only advice I have to offer all of you is to keep your eyes peeled for promotions on Turkish Airlines.  As great as this trip was, it is made even greater when we realized how little it cost us to go on this wild adventure of a lifetime.