I know its late, but I didn’t get a chance earlier to download the pictures from the trip to the pc. Anyway, as some of you previously know, my wife and I went on my new year’s trip to Turkey, to Istanbul specifically.

Before booking our trip, which was done in early Novermber, we had our options limited to either Goa, Istanbul, or Morocco. Neither of us has ever been to any of these places, and they all have their own appeal. The decent places in Goa were fully booked, and I found out that if I plan to go there for new year, I should book 6 months in advance! Morocco was too far for a 4 or 5 day trip, while Istanbul was close, and had the added advantage of my college roommate living in Istanbul. It was freezing we were told (and it was), but its ok for a few days, I miss the freezing cold weather.

So anyway, we got to Istanbul, I met with my roommate, who I last saw in London more than a year ago. It was great seeing him again, we caught up and talked for a while about work, family, and so on. He met my wife for the first time too, which was nice. Anyway to make things short, him being there really made the trip much better! The Turkish people are very nice people but I realized that very few speak English.

Istanbul is a wonderful city! It has this really special feeling of being a melting pot of differnet cultures. You can feel that it is a Muslim country, with the beautiful mosques all over the city, and these mosques match in their beauty the churches of Italy. The feeling of grandeur is also present in these mosques like no other mosques. My favourite mosque was the Sultan Ahmet mosque, also known as the blue mosque, the gardens and surroundings are well taken care of and very serene, and the building itself is breathtaking…this is a picture of the Sultan Ahmet mosque …..

(click on any of the pictures for better quality)

Aya Sophia, also known as Saint Sophia, is the most famous mosque in Istanbul. Inside, you really cannot escape the feeling of history surrounding you, the building was built in 548AD, thats more than 14 centuries ago!!! It was built as a church in the beginning, and then was transformed to a mosque later. The most amazing thing about the mosque is that instead of erasing any trace of Christianity and of its days as a church, that part of its history was preserved and the Islamic aspect was added, such as the minarets and so on. To get a better idea of how beauitful this mixture of cultures is, take a look at this picture, with the words “Allah” and “Mohammad” on both sides of a mural of Jesus… Aya Sophia from inside, Islam and Christianity at their grandest!

For more history and Turkish culture, a trip to the grand bazaar will take you 600 years back! The oldest and biggest closed bazaar in the world, also known as the Grand Bazaar, has around 4000 shops and over 60 alleyway, covering a huge labyrinth in the city centre. The original two structures, covered with a series of domes and remains of the 15th century walls, became a shopping area by covering the surrounding streets and adding to it over the following centuries. In Ottoman times this was the centre of trading, and a vital area of town. Here are two pictures from inside to give a clearer view….

Other than all this history, there is an excellent modern side of Istanbul! Some of the coolest clubs and lounges Ive been to in a while, I found there! The food is incredible! When you try the kabab there, you will refuse to believe that what we have here is called kabab also! They also have this excellent apple tea, which is soo refreshing!

For new years, we were in the street with thousands of people celebrating with live music at the trendy area of the city, with the street closed off, only pedestrians walking around celebrating and dancing on the streets going in and out of restaurants and bars! It simply kicked ass! It was a REAL new years celebration!

In short, I love the fact that you would be walking in an ancient city, pick up a shawarma from a street vendor, walk in to a beautiful mosque afterwards, then go for sheesha and apple tea, then go shopping at a 600 yr old bazaar, then have a drink at a nearby bar, then later have dinner at a real restaurant and fill urself with excellent food and wine, then go to a lounge to chill out, then go to a club to end the day! The best thing about it is that none of this is out of place when you’re in Istanbul!