Archive for September 7th, 2011

Another unusual thing about Istanbul is that it is actually on two continents! The Bosphorous River runs through the middle of the city and on one bank is Europe and on the other is Asia. We spent all of our touristy time on the European side since that is where most of the famous landmarks are, but when we went to the airport for our flight to Barcelona we crossed the Bosphorous and made it into Asia! It was really not that much different, and we weren’t there for long, but it brings our trip continent count up to 5!

Crossing the Bosphorous

In Istanbul, the remnants of the Ottoman Empire are everywhere. This is very readily apparent if you go to visit the Sultan’s Palace Museum in downtown Istanbul. There, they’ve opened most of the palace grounds and some of the interior buildings to give you a sense of what it was like to be king in Istanbul. There are also quite a few surprising relics stored inside.

Storming the Gates