After our May Day isolation and the awful events that took place yesterday, everything was back to normal in Istanbul today. Daria and I set out on the Metro after realizing that there are few signs anywhere and NO english to be found despite Istanbul being such a big tourist destination.

We found our way to the European side of Istanbul and walked for hours all around. We saw the Süleymaniye Mosque, the beautiful and enormous Blue Mosque, and the Grand Bazaar which is still one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world today.

We walked all over and got a little bit of a feel for life in Istanbul as we walked along city streets, pretty courtyards and basically a mosque what felt like every few blocks. We walked along the Bosphorus Strait for a little bit, which is a section of the boundary between Europe and Asia and also connects to the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara. Its a very pretty view all along it, and very European feeling which makes sense since we were on the European side, yet our hotel is on the Asia side.

It depends on who you ask (and I have asked many) as to if Istanbul is considered part of the Middle East or part of Europe. I get both answers. Typically, people from the Middle East tell me that its part of the Middle East and people from Europe says its part of Europe. From my understanding and small research, the city balances over both Europe and Asia - making it the only city in the world to sit across two continents. The Bosphorus Strait is known as the divide between the two continents..yet there is a bridge that takes you from the Asia side of Istanbul over to the European side of Istanbul and vice versa.

So, Istanbul is where Europe and Asia meet.

The picture above is of my favorite little building that we came across on our walk. We don't really know what it is and it is not nearly as huge as all the other Ottoman mosques or towers we came across, but its pretty cute and colorful...so I love it.

I have downloaded all the other pictures so far of Turkey and the rest of Dubai.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90572684@N08/sets/