Istanbul

I usually have a strong first impression of a city once I arrive but with Istanbul, there is no one single overpowering sense of the city for me yet. Perhaps I need to have more time to soak it up or perhaps I am still suffering from jetlag. We arrived at midnight last night after a day of travel. Quite tired but glad to meet up with our hotel driver and my lovely friend Amy at the airport.

The city is old and beautiful. The weather is perfect (in other words not snowing like back home in Calgary). 

We awoke this morning to a lovely breakfast on the garden patio at the hotel. It was a leisurely breakfast with lots of good food. I look forward to our daily breakfast for the rest of our stay. It is more like brunch which is my favourite meal ever!

For our first day, we wanted to stay close to the hotel as we didn't know how tired we would get throughout the day however, we packed quite a bit into the first day:

- Hagia Sofia - Beautiful mosaics (pictures to come)

- Blue Mosque

- Rode the tram

- Basilica Cistern - I think that was my favorite spot today

- Arasta Bazaar

- Walked by a few obelisks 

- Sat on a bench to people-watch while drinking tea

We wandered to the sea and ferries to pick-up a donar for lunch. Yummy street food - chicken and pita. Yumm-o! Now we are just relaxing in the garden terrace deciding what to do for dinner. It truly was a lovely day but I think it will be an early evening as we are all a wee bit tired.

I promise pictures will follow. Until next time...I was going to say goodbye in Turkish but it requires a special character that I have no idea how to type on my keyboard - it is basically "hoshchakal".