I was on the rooftop lounge of our guesthouse, looking out over a rain-soaked Istanbul, when I put the final touches on a post called On Not Falling in Love With Istanbul. Shortly thereafter, the rain subsided, the sun came out, and the wind changed from a gale to a mere bluster! It was suddenly pleasant to be outside, provided you had a stocking cap and warm coat.
We had a wonderful last day in Istanbul and I was able to get some decent outdoor photos of the city. Lesson: when things are not going quite right, make a negative blog post and things will perk up.
We left Istanbul on a positive note, and I’d like to offer up a photo essay of positive experiences as a peace offering to the city for giving us one beautiful afternoon.
Follow along with me as I give you a photo tour of the city.
The Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya
The three main tourist sites in Istanbul – the Aya Sofya, The Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace – are all located within a few hundred meters of each other. It is super convenient to visit if you are an obnoxious tour group or short on time, but a little touristy. All three places are spectacular, despite the crowds.
The Blue Mosque Interior
Blue Mosque exterior
The Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia are separated by a park that is filled with tourists by the day, but surprisingly empty at night during a rain storm.
The Aya Sofya interior. It was first a church, then a mosque and now a museum. On the top of the dome you see a mosaic of Mary with baby Jesus, juxtaposed by the Muslim medallions in Arabic script.
People Watching
People watching in Istanbul is pretty solid. There is a mix of Turkish people in both modern and traditional clothes, stylish Europeans and expats, tourists and touts.
A family on a bench near the Aya Sofia
A Muslim girl smoking a cigerette. This is something I’ve never seen before in the Middle East. Turkey is easily the least conservative country I’ve been to in the region. Although most of the older women wore head scarves, only about 20% of the younger girls wore them.
Why are we so mean to pigeons? We feed them in photogenic squares and then set our children free to harass the hell out of them.
I don’t think this foreign girl read the sign.
Galata Bridge
The Galata Bridge is the place to be at sunset. Along the bottom of the bridge are bars, restaurants and hookah lounges, while on top anglers are packed together casting their lines into the sea. Tourists, families and local commuters are buzzing around, creating an exciting energy.
I stashed Kristi in one of the shops below while I braved the wind to take sunset photos.
Sunset on the Galata Bridge is pure magic.
Classic Istanbul sunset.
Some dude on the Galata Bridge with rabbits. I have no idea what he was doing.
Food and Drink
Baklava: flaky pastry, nuts and honey. It is pure bliss, one of the best deserts I’ve eaten in my life. If I have to buy new pants on this trip due to mine not fitting any more, we will know the culprit.
Would you like to make Turkish Coffee at home? Here is the recipe. Mix 2oz. of gasoline with a spoonful of top soil. As much as I love baklava, I do NOT love Turkish Coffee.
We call them “spinning meats,” the ubiquitous vertical spits where venders carve off juicy cuts of meat to stuff in pitas. Even the dogs are fans.
Turkish Pizza. Yum.
Cats
Lastly, no photo tour of Istanbul would be complete without talking about cats. Cats are everywhere, and most of them are well fed. You can tell a lot about a culture by how they treat their cats, and this is a great culture.
This friendly guy jumped in my lap at a mosque.
A cat hanging out in the gift shop at the Chora Church.
We had a box of kittens outside our guesthouse. This made Kristi very happy.
Have you been to Istanbul? What did you think of the city?
Planet Bell 
Love this installment of your blog!
Thank you. I had fun putting this one together.
I’ll have to try that negative blog thing. It’s amazing how a little sun can change the mood.
It totally works. Write about how you never see black bears chasing elk right outside your house.
Interesting!
Thank you for a reminder of this lovely place!! 🙂
You are welcome. It is a very photogenic place.
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Hello, when I miss Istanbul I look at what other travel bloggers are documenting about that beautiful city. Yours are lovely photos of the Galata Bridge and I particularly like the dog begging for meat! As for the man with the rabbit on the bridge, this puzzled me too the first time an old man gestured to me from a park while holding up a rabbit. I thought he wanted to sell me a pet. As it turns out, if you approach the man, he will ask your name and tell it to the rabbit, then the rabbit will use its teeth to pick a slip of paper from a box that has a fortune on it (kind of like a fortune in a Chinese fortune cookie). I think you can get one written either in English or Turkish. If you have a Turkish friend along, it’s fun to get one in Turkish and have your friend translate. Thanks for the memories.
Thank you for filling me in on the rabbit. That is very interesting. I should have approached him and investigated the situation more!
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Lovely sunset!
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Agreed.. Cats and more cats….but what?! You don’t like Turkish coffee?
Turkish coffee was a little too intense for me. I really liked the tea however. And the backlava. Does that make it okay?
All right then Turkish tea it is 🙂 My husband enjoyed the Raki but I have to say the gasoline analogy came to mind for me.
Raki is tough. We got a bottle as a gift in Greece and we couldn’t decide if the guy was being nice or if he hated us!
You may know the trick of adding a bit of water and making ‘Lion’s Milk'( it turns white). Apparently then one has the courage of the King of the jungle. Frankly the only courage it gave us was to buy two huge Turkish rugs. I swore off the stuff after that 🙂
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Loved ur photographs…i am a baby/kids photographer…but seeing ur blog I am inspired to finally put my travel tales into my blog…lets see when…I personally love istanbul…I was there a few years back for 5 days and it was a super duper amazing experience….
Istanbul grew on me. I wasn’t in love at first, but the weather got better and we enjoyed it. Thank you for stopping by and I’ll look for your travel photos on your blog.
I was in Istanbul early this year. Here is a link to some of my photographs, of course nothing close to what you have captured. I was on my own, even though someone was constantly trying to sell me something, I felt safe to walk around alone during the day.
I definitely will go back and spend more than 3 days there.
I throughly enjoyed your photographs.
https://myrandomness01.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/a-view-of-istanbul-through-my-lens/
It is certainly a safe city and an enjoyable place to visit. I, too, would like to go back and get away from the immediate tourist center. Thanks for commenting.