I am not the best person to discuss food, as my go to is usually what I am used to (my first Turkish meal was a margherita pizza!), but I thought people might enjoy seeing the different foods we encountered when in Istanbul.

Every restaurant has a man standing outside who harasses you to try to get you to come eat at his restaurant. Never engage with a boat trip salesman on the street. You may end up in a carpet shop. There are way too many tourists!! Stray animals are treated really well here. It is a cultural belief that it is a community responsibility to take care of them so they let them just hang out wherever they want and there are random feeders and houses set out for them. And the dogs are huge. The men are beautiful! This is the place to come if you want a nose job…

Galata Tower Originally built by Emperor Justinian, this tower was destroyed during the Fourth Crusade. What stands today was built in 1348, although it has had much damage caused by fires and storms throughout the years. The tower has been used as a lookout and a dungeon, and was even the jumping off point of a man who strapped on wings and supposedly ‘flew’ to Asia! Whirling Dervish ‘Sema’ Performance The Whirling Dervishes are members of the Sufi form of Islam. Whirling is a form of physical meditation in which the dervish is aiming to reach the source of all perfection.

There are a crap ton of people who visit Istanbul. I knew this, of course, but it was really highlighted for me when we went to visit these two popular sites. There were people everywhere and it was hard to get decent photos without Instagram photoshoots or other random wanderers getting in the way. I wish I had lived during the time of these places’ heyday so I could have experienced them as they were, not as an attraction to be ogled at by the masses, but it is what it is. These places were cool regardless, so enjoy! The Basilica Cistern Built in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian,…

Hagia Sophia In short, the Hagia Sophia was originally built as a basilica for the Greek Orthodox Christian Church in 360 AD by the Byzantine Empire under the leadership of Emperor Constantius. It burned to the ground in 404 AD, was rebuilt and again burned to the ground during the Nika Revolts against Emperor Justinian I. Justinian ordered it to be completely rebuilt in 537 AD, and this is the structure that remains today. When Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans in 1453, the city became Istanbul and the Hagia Sophia became a mosque, which is its purpose now. (Obviously I am skipping a lot of history here!) Outside the…