December 24th we flew from FCO (Fiumicino Rome) to IST (Istanbul). We drove up and left the car at Lunga Sosta (long-term parking) which was really easy to do - and now opens up a lot more travel options with budget airlines!
We stayed at the Golden Horn hotel in Sirkeci which we highly recommend, and was also the chosen hotel for GAP tour Istanbul hotel (the sign of a great, local hotel with charm and value). The breakfast buffet spread on the roof top terrace with views of the Bosphorous River, mosques and the palace was great - eggs, traditional Turkish cuisine, cereal, yogurts, bread... Morgan really enjoyed it too and made friends with a sweet Indian girl who invariably always seemed to be on our same schedule. The 2 girls would run/walk around nicely. The king size bed was really nice as we all 4 slept in it! Even though we lugged a pack-n-play ourselves and the hotel also had another one for us!
Here's the quick overview of what we did:
Dec. 24 - travel day - explored Sultanhamet area near hotel
Dec. 25 - Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, and Grand Bazaar
Dec. 26 - Topkapi Palace
Dec. 27 - Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent and Spice Market
Dec. 28 - Taskim Square and Istiklal Street
Dec. 29 - Istiklal Street, Galata Tower and Bosphorous River Tour
Dec. 30 - Grand Bazaar, Spice Market, New Mosque and Gulhane Park
Dec. 31 - Gulhane Park - travel day
Istanbul really is East meets West. It felt like a very liberal Middle Eastern country where women can go into mosques, people all wear traditional western wear with only a few women covering their hair, not too much staring and I didn't feel like I'd get thrown in jail if I had a public breastfeeding blouse malfunction! And fortunately it is quite liberal as Morgan was really into wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas!" We tried to get her to say "Happy New Year!" and explain how not everyone believes in Santa, but that's all quite complicated. And a sort of ill-timed milestone was that Morgan has just become potty trained so we had to force her in many instances just to go in her diaper. We also had to explain the concept of nasty toilets and eastern/western potties! Yuck!
We had a great time and saw a lot of sights - everything we had wanted to. Highlights were the Hagia Sofia which had started out as the main church of Constantinople in 537 AD and was later converted into a mosque by the Ottomans. Inside you can see both Arabic writings and crosses. We also marveled at seeing the 86 carat diamond inside Topkapi Palace that was surrounded by another 46 smaller diamonds and made into a ring! We assumed the museum erred in the translation because the diamond was far closer to a belt buckle. The diamonds, rubies and emeralds of the Sultans were all quite impressive as well as the gifts from various countries - Iran, India, Russia and England. Morgan thought it was neat to see the Princess's jewels and imagine where the Princess would live as that's what she's into right now.
Of course, what trip would be complete without shopping. The Grand Bazaar has over 4000 vendors. We found one where we bought a couple inlaid wooden items. While Jeff and I were bargaining, Morgan managed to score a few presents herself and flock of guys wanting to dance with her and pick her up. She got bracelets, pins, and 2 chess pieces. Morgan did love the attention and we laughed because she'd tell them not to touch her hair - the curls - don't mess with her golden curls! We also noticed that she's quite picky - she only lets the cute, younger boys flirt with her and walks away from the rest. In addition to Jeff carrying back the pack-n-play, stroller, and all our luggage, he also managed to carry back a backgammon table. And a bronze chandelier with colored glass bulbs and a few other things. He's the International Sherpa Expert!! And he actually enjoys the challenge. Though the Grand Bazaar has a lot of things, I preferred the Spice Market which is also housed inside an impressive old building.
The weather was perfect the first 3 days - in the 50s, but then chilly the next few - in the 30s! Brrr!!! So we just bundled up more. We opted to take the local 1.5 hour Bosphorous River boat ride vice the 5-6 hour trip that stops at every castle. It was nice to see some mosques and palaces along the way and then head back.
Morgan not only drew attention from the vendors, but also in the restaurants that seem to play a lot of club/house music which is Morgan's freestyle dance music choice. She's a great dancer with new moves that I'm not sure where she picked them up. When she wasn't dancing, she'd help Jeff and I play backgammon by rolling the dice and moving the pieces for us. In one restaurant they asked to take her picture to use in their marketing!
Morgan had a great time on the trip and somehow Santa managed to find us even in our hotel room as he'd leave little presents for her every day. She had fun with that and also enjoyed going to the nearby park with slides!
We got back home Dec. 31st and found that Santa had been to our house! Yippeee!!!!
Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays,
Love,
Jeff, Liz, Morgan and Isabella
PS - Bella did great too!!! Most evenings we hung in the hotel room and Jeff would pick-up food to go. Morgan would run around the room and keep Bella quite entertained.
