This picture captures quite a bit of Istanbul... from the mosque to the Bosphorus. I'm standing in Europe, but looking across the way to Asia... pretty unbelievable!
Below is the Rumeli Fortress, a military fortress that was built in 1452 in only FOUR months. This fortress was part of the planned Turkish siege of Constantinople. Mehmet the Conqueror warned his workers that they would pay with their lives if construction was not completed in time. It was built fast, but still standing today!
The fortress is now used as an outdoor museum and an open-air theater for concerts during festivals.
To climb to the top, we had to go up these steep stairs with NO guard rails. It was quite an adventure, but there were some really scary drop offs! (Don't worry mom, I was careful) :)
Made it to the top! What a view!
Group picture :)
This is the golden horn (an inlet from the Bosphorus). The original settlers lived here and it becomes busier everyday (especially with cars/buses) as evidenced by the smog in the distance. It's not exactly the Swiss mountain air that I'm used to! 
On our last day, we took a ferry from Europe to Asia. Can you tell that I'm fascinated that this city sits on TWO continents? This was one of my favorite things we did... there's something relaxing about being on the water... and drinking Turkish tea.
Looking at the city from a distance...
When I told people that I was going to Istanbul, they said you have to go to the Grand Bazaar! So we made it a point to go. It case you don't know what the Grand Bazaar is, it is the largest and oldest covered market in the world with more than 58 streets, approx. 6,000 shops, and between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors a day! It's considered to be the first "mall." Aren't we glad for those in America!?
The Bazaar had mostly jewelry, decorative plates/bowls, scarves, and lots of little trinkets, but you could probably find just about anything! This store had a lot of variety... including lots of spices...
This was a gift from the Egyptians...
In 390 AD!
Heading toward the Blue Mosque... The national mosque of Turkey and Istanbul's biggest tourist attraction
A close up of the Blue Mosque... I honestly thought it was going to be blue. I have to say I was a little disappointed.
The inside was enormous!
I later found out that the "blue" mosque was named after the blue tiles on the inside. The detailing was quite beautiful.
The Hagia Sophia. First a church, then a mosque, and now a museum. In the day of the church, there was a big cross at the top of the dome and there were no minarets.
This is a drawing of part of the original church over 1500 years ago, but it was unfortunately burnt down during a riot. The emperor at the time wanted to rebuild a much larger and majestic church than ever before (the one that is there today). There were more than 10,000 workers during construction!
This inside was incredible...
The view from the second floor...
There were several beautiful mosaics like this one. The Muslims covered the mosaics with plaster, but the plaster started to fall off as well as some mosaic tiles, but all of the faces are in tact. In this mosaic: Mary, Jesus, and John the Baptist
In addition to putting plaster on the walls, the Muslims also painted over crosses and other Christian symbols, but now the crosses are starting to show through.
There were still some sights in Istanbul that I didn't have a chance to see, so I hope to go back one day and see them with Nate!
