Istanbul is the only city in the world that spans 2 continents. It's very eclectic, where old clashes with the new. At one point in history, it was the capital of Rome, and was later conquered by the Ottomans. A lot of history happened here and a lot is still left to uncovered - many historical sites are still buried meters below the modern city.
During our 2 week stay, we took time to visit some of the most popular sites: Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia Church, Basilica Cistern, just to name a few.
We also walked around the Grand Bazar and the Spice Market.
Since we stayed near Taksim Square in the Beyogul district, we went for a daily walk down Istiklal Avenue for fun.
On one night, we were just going out for some dessert and tea when we accidentally walked through a protest. Istikal Avenue is always filled with a crowd of locals and tourists at every hour of the day. Nothing seemed unusual until we heard several people start whistling, cheering, and chanting. We had just arrived at our destination and sat down inside, when we suddenly we saw people running down the street with the police chasing them. It turned out to just be a small protest so we had nothing to worry about, but it was interesting to see the game of cat and mouse that the protestors were playing with the police. This protest was definitely a lot less nerve-wracking than the La Paz protest we walked through several months ago, where miners were igniting small sticks of dynamite in the streets! :)
