Ortaköy, Beşiktaş, Kadıköy, and pics from the Ferry

Our first few days in Istanbul were incredible, though they are already starting to blur together.

On our first full day here, we set out to see the square in Ortaköy, next to the Ortaköy Mosque and the Bosphorus Bridge.  There was a playground right there near the water, so it made for a nice resting point - and a good way for the boys to burn off some of the energy they built up on the 14 hour flight the day before!

They also got a chance to look at the water and chase the pigeons in the square.

We walked down to Beşiktaş and took the ferry from there to Kadiköy, which is on the Asian side.  We didn't stay for long, as the boys were both getting pretty tired, but how often do you get to say that you literally were in 3 different countries on 3 different continents in the span of 48 hours?  

Nate watched the boys on the ferry ride back so that I could take advantage of the beautiful view.  From the boat, we got a great view of Kız Külesi (the Maiden Tower), the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace, and the Galta Tower.  I took so many pictures that I'm going to post the smaller versions, but you can click on them for a larger view.

  

  

  

Monday was also Republic Day, and Nate had told me that there was going to be a massive fireworks display going on later that evening. So we ventured back home, had some food, and around 7:10, we joined the masses of people flooding down to the banks of the Bosphorus to watch the show. It was well worth standing the in the crowded square. The fireworks were absolutely incredible. First, they were over the water, and any fireworks show over the water is awesome in my opinion. But I had never seen so many fireworks being shot off at once. They literally shot off 48,000 fireworks from 16 different points along the water. The entire show was like a massive 4th of July grand finale. They also had some really impressive ones that looked like a crescent and a star (after the Turkish flag).  It was a great time, and the kids loved it too.

The next day, we woke up to treats, as Nate had gone out and gotten my favorite breakfast item in the whole world, chocolate pastry!  They were different here than in Germany - chewier, and a lot more chocolate.  They were so fresh that they were still warm even.  YUM!

Nate had class after that, so he headed out to Boğaziçi.  We walked with him to the bus stop - our first real test of being out and about alone in Istanbul.  And we made it just fine of course.  After that, Caedmon did school and Aiden played around the apartment.  Later that afternoon, I took the boys out for ice cream and bumped into Nate, who was returning from classes, on our way there.  I forgot how good European ice cream is.  :-)

Late that evening, we walked down to Ortaköy square again (quickly becoming one of our favorite spots due to the playground there).  It gets dark extremely early though, especially with the time change.  So the boys enjoyed playing a bit while I shot some nice night shots.  And while we were there, we also enjoyed one of the famous Ortaköy potatoes.  They take HUGE potatoes (literally bigger than both of my fists put together) and then let you pick what toppings you want to throw on it (and there are dozens to choose from).  It as tasty, and we couldn't eat the whole thing, even between the two of us.