Our Last Day in Istanbul

Our last day in Istanbul was bittersweet.

 

We had just learned our way around town!

On our last day we started out our day with a walk down to the Sea of Maramara.

I was excited to be away from the museums of rocks and maps and down by the water!

      

The backdrop of this photo is the Asian side of Istanbul. Another continent is right across the water!

 

I went down the boat dock and had to put my feet in the sea of Maramara. It was cold!

 

After our morning walk by the water we continued to check out the rest of Istanbul we had yet to conquer.

           

I was obsessed with the Evil Eye during my time in Turkey. It is a charm used to ward off evil – and we saw them everywhere!

     

Turkish lira seemed like fake money to me. It worked out quite nicely for us that it had a good exchange rate while we were there!

  

There were also stray dogs and cats ALL OVER Istanbul. They would just be hanging out in the streets. The cool thing was they were all tagged by the city and seemed to be monitored.

      

Charles and I walked down to the pier and watched these boats serve fish sandwiches fresh right out of the water.

 

Word on the street was that these bad boys were pretty tasty – Charles and I didn’t have the nerve to try them.

   

We then looked across the way and enjoyed the views of the modern city side of Istanbul, which is home to the Galata Tower.

      

We walked across the bridge from Sultanahmet to Karakoy – which links the old city to the new.

 

We took the funicular – a short underground railway up a hill – connecting the quarters of Karaköy and Beyoğlu.

It was a 3 minute ride but was sooooo much better than walking up this massive hill! Hey! We are on our honeymoon here – we are allowed to be lazy!

 

At the top of the hill was Beyoglu!

 

We enjoyed a leisurely walk down İstiklal Street.

It was BUMPIN’ for a weekday – so busy and packed full of people! It had a great vibe.

   

After our stroll along Istiklal we stopped for a drink

 

Obviously a local favorite – a Cola Turka!

After our cola Turka break – Charles  and I met up with his cousin, Charlie – who happened to be studying abroad in Turkey while we were there! Seriously, what are the odds?

Charlie wasn’t able to make the wedding, but he was able to meet up with us in Istanbul and be our guide for the day! He suggested we take a ferry across the water to the Asian side of Istanbul to check it out.

 

It was amazing to get a view of the city from the water.

       

It was really cool to see the skyscrapers in Istanbul on the city limits and not actually in the Center City by the water. We believe it was because there were so many historical buildings and artifacts by the water, they couldn’t build big skyscrapers!

And opposite the European side was the Asian side:

 

Pretty different looking, at least from the water!
   

We arrived on the Asian side mid-afternoon. I was pretty excited to be on another continent!

 

Charlie took us to his favorite lunch spot in Asia.

It was a pretty neat little spot.

 

We enjoyed some local favorites

    

And then stopped for macaroons on the way home!

 

Before heading back to Europe! 

  

It was a pretty neat little afternoon – our last in Turkey!

 

On our last night on the town we decided to check out a place with a view.

We went out for drinks at the next hotel over, I enjoyed some Lions Milk.

While Charles had the local beer – Efes.

In true, old married couple fashion, we enjoyed a game of chess with our drinks and our view.

Doesn’t everyone play board games at bars on their honeymoons?

 

The best part about the game was that I WON – and I never beat Charles Chess! Woohoo!

(Bow to the Chess Master! 🙂 )

  

All in all it was a pretty amazing few days in Istanbul – but it was just the beginning of our honeymoon!

 

Stay tuned for the next portion of our trip – Greece!