Istanbul, Turkey

*** A quick note that we wrote this before all of the fires in Los Angeles. Sending love to everyone and hope they can get it under control soon. ***

We originally planned to spend almost a month in Turkey but, for a host of reasons, we decided to switch it out for places that are harder to reach from NYC. That said, we had already bought non-refundable tickets to Istanbul – and we love Istanbul – so we figured we could at least do a short visit and show the kids a few highlights.

We started the first day with a bit of nostalgia by returning for breakfast to one of the same places Dennis and I ate 15 years ago, and where Dennis decided that people in Turkey are clearly better at doing breakfast than we are. You can often hear Dennis talking about how much he loves breakfast in Turkey and Japan so he has been waiting a while for this meal. Prices are now a lot higher; we are a lot older; but the food was still just as Dennis remembered it – delicious!

After that, the first day was devoted to quick visits to bazaars (Grand and Egyptian/Spice), buying sweets, and stopping by one of the historical places to get Lokum (aka Turkish Delight). And, admittedly, before and after the bazaars we also spent a fair amount of time in small stores looking for things we needed like accessories for Chanukah gifts, jewelry-making supplies, and other small items. Afterwards we took the ferry to the welcoming neighborhood of Karakoy and the kids got to visit the continent of Asia for the first time (check!). We also got lucky with beautiful views from the Bosphorus during sunset and at night on the way back.

For the second day we hit some historical highlights — Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern, and the Blue Mosque. The Hagia Sophia started in the 6th century as a church, became a mosque in the 1400s upon the fall of Constantinople, was converted to a museum in the 1920s, and was turned back into a mosque in 2020. As a result, you can no longer visit from the main floor and can only view the grand hall from a visitor’s section up above. It is still amazing but not the same as when it was totally open for visitors. The Blue Mosque (which is actually the Sultan Ahmed Mosque) is relatively “new” as it was built in the 1600s and, not surprisingly, got its name due to its amazing blue mosaics and tiles. The large cistern is from the 3rd or 4th century and provided filtered water for the area. It includes a few Medusa heads!

For our final day, we jumped into the present. We went to the Istanbul Modern museum which had particularly great temporary exhibitions. Dev is really on a tear about modern art lately and how much she dislikes it; she’s working on a video to share about that (think all white paintings). We then made a stop at a classic place for baklava where we tried various kinds, before jumping on a ferry to Uskudar for the kids to take a perfume making class. This was super fun and Mira made a video about that experience that I’m sure you’ll see any day now, just like the kids will someday start writing this blog. To finish off our final night, we took the funicular (uphill trolley in a tunnel) to Taksim Square to make sure the kids could try Turkish ice cream, dondurma, which comes along with a fun show! Dev made sure we got a video – see below!

As we mentioned, our itinerary has shifted a bit. Here’s what is coming up next: