Archive for September 7th, 2011

Another unusual thing about Istanbul is that it is actually on two continents! The Bosphorous River runs through the middle of the city and on one bank is Europe and on the other is Asia. We spent all of our touristy time on the European side since that is where most of the famous landmarks are, but when we went to the airport for our flight to Barcelona we crossed the Bosphorous and made it into Asia! It was really not that much different, and we weren’t there for long, but it brings our trip continent count up to 5!

Crossing the Bosphorous

In Istanbul, the remnants of the Ottoman Empire are everywhere. This is very readily apparent if you go to visit the Sultan’s Palace Museum in downtown Istanbul. There, they’ve opened most of the palace grounds and some of the interior buildings to give you a sense of what it was like to be king in Istanbul. There are also quite a few surprising relics stored inside.

Storming the Gates

Istanbul has a fascinating history and we were interested in finding out about it, so we headed to the Archaeological Museum. This turned out to be a great idea because it is a really, really amazing place. We decided to pay the extra money and get an audioguide (although we only got one and each had one headphone) and were glad we did because it gave a nice explanation of some of the more important items. We also liked that the map at this museum lists out the things you should make sure not to miss. In the end we spent about 4 hours going through the exhibits and we didn’t even see everything. Definitely don’t miss this place if you’re in Istanbul and like history or even just really old stuff!  Check it out!

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