Istanbul

Dear Friends,
Once again, 24 hours back in Cyprus and it is off to Istanbul for the weekend with three of my favorite people. This was going on week three of non-stop traveling, and I couldn't have been more excited or more ready.

So, we packed out bags and headed downtown. Our flight didn't leave until 4 in the morning, so we stopped by a Belgium beer bar our teacher had recommended for a drink before crossing over to the North side.

After a grabbing a few beers, we crossed over the green line and into the Turkish side. After an interesting cab ride to the airport, we found ourselves in an empty building claiming to be the airport (I suppose it was 2am) and waited for our flight to Istanbul with another beer and a lot of awkward pictures. 

Exhausted, the four of us finally arrived in Istanbul early Friday morning. After attempting to take the metro, and failing miserably, we hailed a cab to our hostel for a quick nap before exploring. 

The Bazaar

Universitisi! Actually this was some sort of protest, but Universitisi soon became our favorite word, and eventually a song.

Plenty of SWAT to break up the protest

The aqueduct that we set off to climb, mission failed

My new puppy friends!

Who followed us until we went into the Mosque

After a day of exploring, we watched the sunset over the water and headed back to the hostel. We didn't manage to leave that night except to get dinner, but we did manage to makeup our very own game which was rightfully called Istanbul. It involved lots of wine and a mix of Kings Cup, suits, and our randomness of rules. Saturday, we headed to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia, which were absolutely breathtaking.

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque

Inside the Hagia Sophia

We then headed to the bridge for lunch, where we ate delicious Turkish food overlooking the water. 

Our last day, we woke up to do some last exploring before having to head back to Cyprus.

Spice Market

Archeological Museum

Tokapi Palace

We then made our way to the Bosphorous for a sunset river cruise. This just left us wanting to explore even more of this amazing city. Too bad it was off to catch the plane with talks of returning to finish what we started. 

Mindy and Kyle <3

Saying goodbye to Istanbul, I boarded the plane ending my last travel experience of the semester and heading back to Cyprus for the last month. Don't worry though, just because we are back in Cyprus, does not mean the adventures end. <3

Love always,

                     xo Jenn