Today’s travel photo of the day brings us a reminder of the little surprises one can find in the midst of traveling in another country. In Istanbul, Turkey, travelers can find incredible historic sites and museums, religious marvels, colorful markets, breathtaking architecture, and…cats like the one captured above by Realtraveler Zoe, otherwise known as mroc2103.
Zoe visited Istanbul in the last few months of her around the world trip, where she took a year off of work to travel from her homeland of Australia to Vietnam, Thailand, China, Mongolia, Russia, and Europe. You can read about her journey in her blog, Zoe’s World Adventure. Meanwhile, here is an excerpt from her time spent in the glorious city of Istanbul:
“We started at the Suleyman Mosque as it was near the hotel. It was built in the 14th century for Suleyman the Magnificent (and very large headed!) and has an impressive graveyard in the back. The mosque is huge and really quite beautiful on the inside. Much nicer light than the Blue Mosque. We only got to have quick look prior to the afternoon prayers, unfortunately.
We headed to the main square and had a look around at the various attractions there. I got another picture of me and Travelbear with the Egyptian Obelisk (only this time I wasn’t wearing an overcoat). We went into the Blue Mosque, which was really crowded for some reason. We didn’t get long there either as it was almost closing time. We decided to go to Hagia Sofia later because the light was beginning to fade and it’s dark enough inside at the best of times.”
Later, she visited more great sites:
“I went to the museum of Islamic art which is in the hippodrome. It’s an odd museum as it is in an old house so it consists of lots of little rooms off a large corridor. It has a large collection of Turkish rugs, ceramics, glassware, furniture, metalware, calligraphy and temple doors. The English explanations don’t really match the specific objects but give a more general picture of the region or style. The calligraphy was just gorgeous and they have some beautiful old Korans. Some of the rugs must have been huge as they only have fragments left and they still wouldn’t have fitted on a normal living room floor. All of the rugs are quite worn as they were actually used rather than being decorative like many of the European ones.
I didn’t get to see the Ethnographic section of the museum unfortunately because I had to go and meet the others and head onto the Topkapi Palace. It’s a huge complex of buildings that used to house the Sultan and his family, as well as having lots of administrative areas. It’s pretty much built around three main courtyards with large gates joining them. Some have buildings in the middle as well, while others just had gardens… the terraces have great views over the Golden Horn and everyone was out there taking photos. Lots of them will have difficulty picking themselves out of the crowd I think. They are working on some of the tiled sections of the palace at the moment but you can still go into some of them. The circumcision room has beautiful tiles all over the walls, right up to the ceiling.” (more…)
To plan your own trip to Istanbul, visit:
Istanbul Travel Guide
Things to Do in Istanbul
Istanbul Travel Photos
Turkey Travel Guide
Turkey: A 10-Day Itinerary
