Monday, June 12, 2006

Pictures Pictures-- first there was Istanbul

Okay, I'll try to do this in chronological order...
Elizabeth and I went on this 2 week Greece/Turkey trip with 2 friends (Deb and Mary) from Iowa. Deb is the shorter one with dark brown hair and Mary is about the same height as Elizabeth and me and has light brown hair. This trip was purely vacation or holiday, if you please. It was a much needed break from the monotony of the American working world.

We flew into Istanbul and stayed 2 nights.


The view from our hotel's terrace in Istanbul. That is the Sea of Marmara.

The Blue Mosque at night.

Smokin' the nargile-- a.k.a water pipe or hookah. Our favorite tobacco flavor was apple. This was at a local nargile spot that a couple Turkish guys we met took us to. We were the only girls and the only tourists there. It was awesome. Funny thing--apparently Turks generally do not drink when they smoke the nargile. They just have Turkish tea or alma (apple) tea. We were wondering "where's the beer?"

Elizabeth at the grand bazaar.


Turkish Viagra at the Spice bazaar.

Alright, those are pretty much the highlights of Istanbul. I will put another post up with pictures from our next stop--Cappadocia-- soon.

-Cara

3 comments:

TriBoomer a.k.a. Brian said...

Great photos. Did you learn any Turkish words?

Cara said...

Boomer,

Yeah, we actually learned quite a bit of Turkish. On the other hand, we didn't practice much Greek. The Turks were more receptive to our broken attempt at speaking their language in comparison to the Greeks we encountered.

Barb said...

Smoking the hookah and checking out the viagra! I thought this was a business trip! HaHa!