The Bosphorus

We took a Bosphorus cruise while in Istanbul.  The girls counted jelly fish while we waited to board the boat.

I don't know if you can see all of the jelly fish in this picture, but there were hundreds of them. 

Dolmabahce Palace

The girls waiting in line to get tickets, we were in this line for an hour.

The front gate.

The girls in front of the palace.  We had to wait in this line for another hour to get into the palace.

Side gate to the palace.

Alina insisted that I take her picture with the lion statue and the cat.

This gate led to a private dock on the Bosphorus.

Palace clock tower.
They did not let us take any picture inside the palace.  It was pretty amazing and very over the top.

The Spice Market

We stopped at the spice market and were able to find Melissa Tea.

One of the shops at the spice market.

We got the girls Turkish Delight while at the spice market.  The pomegranate flavor was really good.

The Grand Bazaar

Ky and the girls in front of the Grand Bazaar.

McKayla outside one of the shops.  The girls did all of their own bargaining and in Turkish.  They got better deals that we could have gotten.

Ky and the girls down one of the streets in the Grand Bazaar.  There were little side streets everywhere.  I'm not sure if we saw everything or if we saw everything twice.

Topkapi Palace

Alina in the queen mother's apartment in the Harem

Me and the girls outside Topkapi Palace

Going into the Palace

Going into the Harem

Me and the girls in front of a fireplace in the Harem.  The tile work throughout the Harem was amazing.

The Ceilings were beautiful, they were the best part of a lot of the rooms.

Another ceiling.

More of the tile work and ceilings that were seen throughout the Harem.

And yes, another ceiling.  We also toured the rest of the palace, the highlight being the treasure rooms, unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures.

The Hippodrome

The girls in front of the Column of the Serpent with the Column of Constantine in the background.

The Column of Constantine.

The Egyptian Obelisk, this is only the top third of it.

The Sultan Ahmet Blue Mosque

We are in the inner courtyard of the mosque.  These pictures do not do it justice.

Me and the girls in the mosque.  The tiles were beautiful.

The domed ceilings were also beautiful.