Istanbul (Constantinople) - the most underrated city ever?

Istanbul (not Constantinople) is a place we have both wanted to see for a very long time.  It seemed like an incredible destination due to it's history (Hello, capital of the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires) and unique location as the crossroads of The East and The West, and we have not been disappointed, but continually singing that song in our heads.  And astonished.

Do de doh, on our way to the hostel...what the!?!?

Strangely, we knew we were in for something unusual even before we'd set a foot on Turkish soil.  Our premonition came not from the seer's reading of the tea leaves or  soothsayer, but from the most unlikely of places: airline food!

Yet another post begins with food...

What you are seeing in that unassuming picture is one of the most delicious meals we have  eaten on this trip, possibly ever.  We are not talking compared to airline fare, we are talking one of the best meals of our lives.  On an airplane.  Let that sink in, and if this is too much to be believed, keep in mind the Turks have been trading in spices since the beginning of the human race; they know them some spices.  The chicken and grilled vegetables were cooked with saffron and curry, the rice was perfect, the beans had a savory/sweet/slightly spicy combination that made my western taste buds sing and dance, and the cake was a perfect, delicate honey-based concoction.  This was also on a two-hour flight.  An added bonus - they treated us like grown-ups, not deranged psychopaths, let us board the plane from both ends (my engineering brain was reeling, reeling!, with efficiency!) and gave us metal utensils.  Turns out Turkish Airlines wins every airline-type award every year.  Awesome!

We really liked the vibe in Istanbul, just on the ride from the airport we noticed differences, things we hadn't seen during our travels: shopping malls, grocery stores, delivery Burger King...hmmmmmmm? 

Best of all...

 These were delightful to see yet superficial, and as the train pulled along, we got into the Istanbul we expected: the Turkish coast, mosques, street vendors, and unique shops.  Our hostel was conveniently and awesomely located in the Old Town, mere minutes from the Topkapi Palace (home of the Sultans, Harem,  "Arabian Nights" type place):

Hagia Sophia,

Pictured: The cutest wife on Earth.  Oh yeah, Hagia Sophia is there too.

 and the Blue Mosque.

Our Heroes!

As a result, we got to walk past these amazing places every day on the way to the tram!  We loved that, and took way too many pictures of these places, but they are incredible!

We saw all three of course, and they were as amazing inside as outside.  Hagia Sophia took our breath away, especially with it's amazing Dome.  And we know our domes, having seen-slash-climbed what seems like thousands of them by now.  And if you thought the domes in St. Peters in the Vatican, the Duomo's of Florence and Sienna, and the Pantheons of Paris and Rome were impressive, you aren't a Dome-isoeur.  Dome-icionado?  Domist?  Whatever.

Arabic calligraphy... sweet.

Also on the dome

Now for some scale...

Some mosaics from the Christian times

Melanie and a hairy beast...[SPOILER ALERT]...not for long.

The palace was really cool, it was neat to be able to walk where the Sultans walked for hundreds of years and see the Harem, which is Arabic for "Forbidden."  Neat, but not really interesting to take pictures of.  Except for these ones!

Entrance to the palace grounds

Sign in Arabic, sleeping dogs lying.  Laying?  Either way, let them lie!

Sweet reflecting pool, the Sultan had breakfast under the gold dome, overlooking the Bosphorus  and Golden Horn (Sultanhamet)

Let's see...we need to go...left?

Harem, which had 300-500 Concubines and 200 eunuchs.  Too many of both, I say.

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt, my good eunuchs.

Most of our photos are like this.  Old tiles.

The pool where, according to our audio guide, the Sultan would have dwarves perform and entertain him.  We listened to that part of the guide 5 times, and that's what it said!

Sweet tree, with a Brannan.

The Blue Mosque is still a functioning mosque, so we could only visit when it wasn't prayer time, which it seemed like was all the time.  But we got in, here it is!

Huge mosque, with a huge dome.  I was impressed with the airy-ness of it.

Melanie as a temporary Muslim

You remove your shoes and carry them around in a plastic baggy.  And yes it does smell like feet in there.

The tour guide (only one not looking up) got into a loud discussion with all these guys.  Keep it down!

Beautiful, peaceful place.

View of Hagia Sophia from the gates of the Blue Mosque

We were very impressed with Turkey, the transportation was cheap and easy to figure out, almost everyone spoke excellent English and was friendly, and the whole place just had a really cool, exotic vibe that we liked from the beginning.  Here are a few more neat things that don't really deserve their own stories, but were part of our Istanbul experience:

Nighttime on the riverfront- amazing to watch the city light up

Baklava...hmmmm.  We ate a LOT of it, and the real stuff is amazing.

Fishermen on the Galata Bridge.  Every time we went over this bridge, there were hundreds of fishermen.

We bought some sweet $5 timepieces.  Mine has the "Ottoman Signature" on it.  The nice thing about really cheap watches bought on the street is every day they keep working is a delightful surprise!

Our meal is in that flaming pot!  They put the meat, beans, etc. in the pot and cook it, then cut the top off with a big knife and serve it.  It's kinda like hobo dinners, only with pots instead of foil and with flames

This crazy lady started feeding the cats, and then was surprised and overwhelmed when every cat within a mile showed up.  We assume after the meat was gone the cats turned on her...

Overall, we think Istanbul deserves a lot more credit than it gets for being an amazing, exciting, romantic destination.  Everyone thinks about London, Paris, or Rome when they think Europe, but we think Istanbul should be on the top of people's lists as well.  It has history, charm, friendliness, and world-class sights, but for some reason not the fame of other places.  The week we spent there felt like only a few days, but it was a week well spent- so much so that we have not one, but two more posts to go on this place, so stay with us, and we'll continue to try to show why Istanbul might be our...favorite?