summer trip part 1/3 {istanbul}

this summer our big trip was to isatanbul, maldives, and london. our first stop was to istanbul. we were only there for a 10 hour layover, but were so excited because we were able to go out into the city! 

blue mosque:

sophia mosque

i liked seeing a cross :) 

rainbow! 

hao and i in front of the sophia mosque

istanbul has two different parts- the european and the asain. we were only able to visit the european side.

i love love love diet coke & coke zero, so i was really excited to try this! 

hao's dinner! it was kind of like beef stew- really really good! 

myself & the host that sat us. the people there were really friendly and we enjoyed talking & joking with them! 

hao & i at the restaurant. we were sitting on the sidewalk, so it was a perfect spot to people watch!

panorama with both mosques 

after dinner, we went into the blue mosque {sophia mosque is not open to tourists, from what i understand}

we then just walked around a bit more. we knew we needed to head back soon, but kinda didn't wanna leave! 

istanbul is a gorgeous city! to be honest, it's a lot prettier than i expected! the people were pretty friendly. we had a taxi driver that was really helpful & fun to talk to. the food was really good and, of course, it was gorgeous!

maldives post coming tomorrow!