As a follow-up to my previous post about the Grand Bazaar, here’s a shot of the interior. Fans of Assassins’s Creed may recognize this from the Grand Bazaar mission. Their attention to details on the little things like windows and rafters is mind blowing to me.
A photo of the inside of the Sultan’s Harem at the Topkapi Palace. I intentionally kept it dark to show off the light and how stunning the blue tile work was. I also learned quite a bit about what the actual function of the Sultan’s Harem actually was. I had a misconception that they were full of beautiful women who lazed around to tend to the Sultan’s whims and desires when in reality the...
Turkish Lights in the Grand Bazaar. These lights were beautiful, but our tour guide warned us that the Grand Bazaar was a tourist trap, and most stuff inside was either junk or major ripoffs, so I didn’t end up buying anything but snagged some cool photos as a souvenir.
This cat was sitting out in the sun but didn’t really enjoy the attention. I only took three pics because he looked me, closed his eyes, and put his head own. and then left it alone.
Commonly referred to as ring-necked parakeets, brightly colored Psittacula and the Alexandrine parakeets, named after Alexander the Great, fly over Turkey’s different regions each year, with their population on the rise. These outgoing and independent Afro-Asian parakeets adorn trees in parks and recreational areas, mainly in Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir. Yet, it is possible to see them...
I can’t remember which building this was, but it’s definitely from a building in Istanbul. From what I remember from the tour guide’s explanation, back in the day, soldiers would drop hot oil on invading enemies using the drops on either side of the wall and then set their enemies on fire.
I tried searching for more information on the building and how it was used but I...
As part of the tour, we boarded a cruise ship to tour Istanbul on the Bosphorus river. Most of the photos didn’t turn out great as the boat was moving too fast and the weather was drab, but I did manage to snag this picture of a seagull. I thought it was interesting because of how translucent the features look at the edges of the wings.
As I was walking through the streets of Istanbul with the tour group and noticed many vendors had set up Shawarma wheels and grabbed a few pictures of them in action as I walked through, but this was the largest wheel I saw by far. The food smelled delicious, but sadly we didn’t get to try any of it as we didn’t have enough time to stop. I always wondered if the vendors were...
One of the things I loved most about my trip to Turkey was the fact that I was able to connect two things I love – video games and history. I am a huge Assassin’s Creed fan, especially the Ezio series. Assassin’s Creed Revelations takes place in Constantinople, which later became present-day Istanbul, and I had learned so much about the region from the game. Having played it...