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Istanbul not Constantinople

05.09.2009

Seriously folks, Istanbul has to be one of the most interesting cities I have ever been to. There is so much history here, so much culture, texture, color and things to see. Even though I took tons of images, I feel I didn't even come close to capturing the essence of this city and I feel like I could easily spend two weeks here instead of just two days. I am definitely going to come back some day.

The weather has been perfect. SoCal-like. We enjoyed walking around and just shooting, shopping and snacking. The Kebab's are awesome. Same with the flatbread. We also hit the jackpot when we found out there was availability at the W Istanbul. The W is my favorite hotel brand and this experience the last few days will keep it at the top of the list (more on the W in a future post).

The first morning I got up super early (my sleep schedule is still screwed up) and walked around a bit. Here's a mosque close to out hotel:

I love the way the written language looks. The marble around this sign is white, but the neon light nearby gave it a nice pink/purple glow:

The is from the Galata Bridge looking north towards the Galata Tower.

And this is from the bridge looking south:

Inside of the Grand Bazaar (where I eventually left my iPhone at a cafe).

I loved these lamps. I didn't buy any because it's a pain to convert them from 220V:

Just a random bed of tulips:

Again, the written word is gorgeous... I also love the texture of this super old city:

Here's Jess in a scarf shop checking out possible Shootsac cover patterns:

"I'll take a large order of flatbread with a side of hummus, and feel free to write down your phone number on the receipt."

This guy was so excited for me to take his picture with my "big fancy camera". I told him I'd email him the image, he said, "what is email?"

This guy gave my shoes a shine. Look how he can pose while still working:

We visited the Blue Mosque, which was really quite amazing. I've never experienced the "call to prayer" before where they blast music throughout the city to let everyone know it's time to face East and pray.

You are allowed to go inside during non-prayer time... it's quite something to see.

I really like their flag and we shot it often throughout the city.

Here we are at the end of a long day. Head on over to Jessica's blog for more tasty images from around the city.

Check back tomorrow for a post dedicated to Turkish textures.

And mom, Happy Mother's Day... I love you so much and I was going to call you Sunday morning (your time), but my phone is gone! Have fun with the rest of the fam and tell April HMD too. I love and miss you all!

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