Mysterious Istanbul

Hey Guys! This is the last of my 4 part series on my trip to Central Europe this year.

Part 1 , part 2 and part 3  in case you need to catch up.

Sorry if I've been sitting on this post for a while, I feel like I had so much to say, yet I wasn't sure how to convey everything nor what to show and what not to show so it's taken me a while to put everything up.

Istanbul was an amazing experience, it was a place unlike any other which I had visited in my life. There were so many people and the sights, sounds and smells were all so different to what I was used to! I really had an eye-opening visiting to this city but I don't think I'll be back in the near future. It was very over-whelming and the next visit will probably be in a long long time. 

The Sights

There were so many mosques and historic sights to see, since we were only there for a short time, we visited the most famous Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. 

The first stop of the day was the Blue Mosque.

What a beautiful day

We had to take off our shoes and me and Annie had to wrap our heads in scarves before we got to go inside since it was still an operating mosque. The inside does not disappoint with the soaring domes and intricately carved interior. 

We didn't really stay long at the mosque since there were lots of people milling about. We moved on to the next monument, the Hagia Sophia, a church that turned into a mosque that turned into a museum.

I was even more impressed by the soaring ceilings and impressive architecture. It was the world's largest building for nearly a thousand years before being displace by another church. It was very awe-inspiring to walk inside. Fun fact: the g in Hagia is not silent! I was so surprised when I heard the official tour soundtrack pronounce it!

Our hotel had a very good view of both the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Here they are at sunset with the Bosphorus in the background. So beautiful.

Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia

And here they are side by side. So awesome!

The Shopping

Istanbul is also a city famous for its shops. You can literally by anything in this city and someone will be here to sell it to you and haggle with you. I found the Grand Bazaar, the most famous of the Istanbul Bazaar to be too overwhelming. There were sooo many people everywhere, all trying to get your attention and sell you something. Shopping became a whole new level of intense.

On the bright side (no pun intended), the turkish lamps sold were gorgeous! 

Should've brought one back!

There were also these fun decorative dishes everywhere as well! My mom told me I should've brought one back for her. (oops!)

Story time: while we were at the Grand Bazaar, Rowan needed to go to the bathroom so Annie and I decided to stand in one place to wait for him. BAD IDEA! These two Turkish gentlemen quickly came over and introduced themselves and insisted that I take their picture. They then proceeded to ask about our relationship status as well as how they were "rich and single Turkish men" .

Needless to say, Annie and I put away our cameras after that and did not stay in one place anymore for Rowan's next bathroom break.

The Food

Turkey is also famous for their food. I'll be honest and say that I didn't really like the kebobs that I was eating. I did have to say that I really enjoyed the other things that I tried. 

I'm a really big fan of seafood, and streetfoods in general. However, usually the combination of the two means a nasty trip to the bathroom. I did get up the courage to try these stuffed mussels though. They were stuffed with a cooked rice and mussels stuffing and served with a squeeze of lemon. Yumm!

Along the same stretch of the harbour, we found fresh grilled fish! Except you eat it with bread like a sandwich! 

It was actually really good since the fish was so fresh and moist. I wish we had these in Canada!!

The other thing I really loved about Istanbul was that there were fresh, roasted chestnuts everywhere, selling for peanuts (or chestnuts??)! I pretty much grabbed a bag of them every time I saw them. So fresh, so good.

Since Istanbul was a city surrounded by water, fish and seafood is in abundance. The turks are really good at grilling fish so I had a lot of fish on the trip.

Since we were in Istanbul, we had to get some Turkish delight for home. There were many shops specializing in Turkish delights since it's a tourist favourite. The candy was actually not bad and the amount of variety was very refreshing.

Finally, I had a sip of Turkish coffee and not pictured, tea. I have to say that I was not fond of either. The coffee had a lot more grounds then what I was used to and the tea was not my cup of tea either. :\ I do like how the Turks serve the coffee with a bit of Turkish delight since they know it'll be more bitter due to the extra grounds.

Finally I leave you with this image of the Blue Mosque at night. I hope you enjoyed my jam-packed trip to Istanbul. There were other things we did that was not mentioned but this post is already long enough. Enjoy your week!

Central Europe 2015: Prague

As most of you know, I went on a spring trip in Central Europe. After finally unpacking and getting over jetlag, I thought it's time to start blogging about our trip. :)

A bit of background: originally, I had planned this as a rail only trip since this would be my last year to purchase a EuroRail pass, but after doing the math , it turned out that buying the tickets individually was even cheaper and logistically it only made sense to take the train for certain segments of the trip. We ended up going to Prague, Krakow, Budapest, and Istanbul. I know, it's not "really" Central Europe,  since we were in Poland and Turkey is barely in Europe but I'm not really sure what to call it so I'll stick with that for now. 

You can check out the map below, the blue line indicating a train trip and red line for flying:

The entire trip lasted for 17 days and I went to some of the most picturesque places in Central Europe with my best friend and my boyfriend, it was an absolutely amazing experience!

I start my trip in picturesque Prague, Czech Republic. The old town is amazingly preserved and everywhere you turn, it's a beautiful scene out of a post card.

It seems like Spring has arrived a little earlier in the Czech Republic and everywhere I turned, flowers were in bloom. 

Prague is quite the touristy little town. Everywhere you go, there are tourists and tourism activities. We decided to try out a Segway tour as a way to see the town since one side of the  Vlata river seemed quite hilly. This turned out to be a great idea since the Prague Castle was situated at the top of a large hill and the Segways were excellent at hill climbing.

All of us in our dorky Segway glory!

To be honest, this was my first time being on a Segway and I have to say I had a lot of fun. They were fast, responsive and able to handle many different terrains. In a way, I'm kind of surprised they are not more widely used given how versatile they can be. However, I would say the biggest drawback is that the user is constantly standing while operating the machine. There are a lot of people who may have difficulty with that, especially over a long period of time. But I'm glad I tried it out and I can't wait till I can do it again :D. 

The castle was really fun to explore and you get a spectacular view of old town Prague. 

They even have traditional guards who perform a changing of the guards ceremony once a day! Kind of reminds me of London all over again.

The Food

Unfortunately I didn't quite document all of my meals but I will share with you one of the more "Czech" styled meals I had. 

Overall the Czechs enjoyed their game, bread and sausages. They seemed to be influenced by the Germans so I saw many places serving sausages as well as the Hungarians since goulash soup was popular as well. 

I started my meal with a cup of coffee and it was excellent! Just really really yummy coffee that I can't find at home.

We shared a goulash soup in a bread bowl. It was quite nice but I wish there was more soup.

Annie tried their roast pig meal and it was delicious! This particular restaurant roasts their own pig daily and I was quite fond of how juicy and flavourful the meat was.

Night Time

While in Prague, we saw one opera performance ( Aida) at the National Opera House and one ballet performance (Krabat) . I have to say, I really enjoyed the ballet and I would love to go back. As for the opera, it was my first time watching opera, and I did not enjoy it as much. Thankfully there were subtitles during the performance to let you know what's going on, overall the experience was not as simulating. Each of the places were quite unique and it was the place where locals came to see and be seen, especially the opera house. Annie and I sat in the dress circle at the opera house and most of the people around us were extremely well dressed. All of the men were in suits while women wore expensive evening gowns. 

Overall, I would say one can really get a sense of how grand everything used to be when you visit the insides of these historic buildings. It's a nice glimpse into the past. 

Extras:

We had a layover in Zurich on the way to Prague. Annie and I found giant Lindt chocolate bars!

I spent a lot of time playing around with night photography and light streaks.

Pretty~~~

I took a picture of our cramped sleeping quarters on the train to Krakow. It fits 3 people (plus luggage) and there was a sink for washing your face!

You can barely stand 3 people in the space!

Have a good night everyone! See you in Poland!

Hiking on the Great Wall of China

I've now completed the Shanghai portion of the trip and we left for Beijing on a nine hour train from Shanghai.

I must say that the train station in Shanghai was one of the nicest and newest train stations I've ever seen. Everything was really modern and clean. The trains were comfortable, and the seats had lots of legroom. It was much better then I had imagined.

Train platform in Shanghai

Comfy for the ride

 Our first stop in Beijing was to visit the Great Wall of China.

A lot of tourists will typically go to Badaling, a section of the Great Wall that’s closest to Beijing but luckily we had Auntie Janet's cousin bring us to a more interesting part of the wall where we were free to explore on our own. Jinshanling is a part of the wall that has appeared in numerous films and TV sequences. The first part of the wall was very well maintained but soon, we begin to see more imperfect parts of the wall.

Lots of crumbled walls and incomplete sections

 But it was great to get away from the crowds of Beijing and really spend some time exploring the Great Wall of China.

On a clear day, you can see for miles

 It was quite dangerous climbing the wall since there were many high and uneven steps and it began to snow while we started climbing.

Broken, jagged, slippery steps

The climb itself wasn't too physically taxing, there were lots of flat-ish sections for us to walk. Going down was more awful since it was so slippery.

Of course since this is China, you can get food everywhere. I found a local selling coffee, tea and snacks on the Great Wall.

Good selection of items too

Of course I had to try a cup of coffee!

Good way to stay warm too

 On our way back, we met another local farmer who was selling souvenirs on the wall. She was extremely fit for a 60 year old and even helped some of us come down on the more steep parts.

Here's a picture of her trying to give us directions

Overall, it was an amazing experience to get to climb the Great Wall of China. I'm happy to say this is another item off of the bucket list.

Gotta leave my mark on the wall :)

 Thanks for reading everyone!

Pike Place Market and the Original Starbucks

For my last day in Seattle, we decided to go to the Pike Place Market, the oldest continuous Farmer's Market in America. This also happens to be the place where the original Starbucks is located. As a Starbucks gold card holder...it's kind of a pilgrimage for me to visit the first Starbucks (I know, awful but it's a must!).

We started off the day with a nice breakfast at Lola's in Belltown where I had a Mediterranean octopus and sweet corn. Yum :)

Eggs sunny side up...my favourite <3

Pike Place Market is located right by Seattle's waterfront and it was pretty busy for a Tuesday morning. 

The first thing you see as you enter the market is stalls of fresh fish on ice. 

So fresh that one of them moved!!

On the other side of the fish is a whole wall of fresh, beautiful flowers.

Just outside the market is access to the Seattle waterfront area. Great place to sit down and enjoy your cup of coffee. :)

Beautiful day :)

There was even a totem pole here!

Love my west coast totem poles!

Across the street from this little area is where you can find the original Starbucks, and their original (brown) logo.

Of course there were a bajillion people at the location, trying to snap a picture and get a souvenir.

Unfortunately, you can't actually sit down for a cup of coffee here but they do sell special cups and mugs that are not available at their other locations.

Hope you've enjoyed my adventures in the Pacific Northwest so far, I know I have :). Have a good one :D !