Photos! (Finally hehe)

Well my blog is finally cooperating and has let me upload photos of the Istanbul trip. Believe it or not this is only a small sampling of the photos I got to take. Istanbul is much to beautiful to be captured in a few photographs, but I tried. :P Enjoy!

Monica

Dried fruits in a corner market

The Blue Mosque and its six minarets. The only Mosque in the world to have six minarets.

 This one felt like being on the left side of the page. This is the fountain in front of the Hagia Sophia.

The gardens between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia

A closer look at the Blue Mosque

Shoes off people. We got to carry them around inside the Blue Mosque.

Inside the Blue Mosque

The wire are for the light fixtures which used to be candle holders before electricity was invented. The worshipers of Islam needed candle light to read the Koran so they hung these and then just left them in.

They have beautiful stained glass windows.

This used to be a fountain, but it's not anymore. It stands right in front of the gate to Topkapı Palace.

Yes people that is real gold... and yes there's a lot of it.

Another old fountain.

This is inside the harem where the women of the Sultan lived.

Mother-of-Pearl cabinet doors

This is the first thing you see when you enter the Hagia Sophia. Breathtaking

This one is upstairs. 

And the view from the balcony. It is the MOST beautiful building I have ever been in. 

The light fixture is the same age as the building. 

This was added later for the Sultans.

Our group in front of the Palace

The underground cisterns

An old palace building from the sea.

The Euro-Asia bridge :D

An old fort from the sea.

The Maiden's Tower. One of the famous landmarks in Istanbul.

Once more: the bridge