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.

Happy 10th Birthday McKayla

Can't believe this kid is 10 years old!!!

She got a Kindle, which she was very happy about.

She wanted a white cake with pink frosting.  We also used the super cool candle that my grandma got her.

Lots of Traveling

In the Airport waiting for our flight to leave for Istanbul.

Luckily there was another family with kids, so the girls had friends to play with.  And so did Ky.

First leg of our trip.

We drove from Thessaloniki to Athens with numerous stops in between, so we spent a lot of time on a bus.  The kids played a lot of games and ate a lot of snacks.

They also listened to a lot of books.

And Mckayla told anyone who would listen about Greek Mythology.