Night in Reflection

Beautiful night in Istanbul. 

After a full day of being tourists in the Sultanahmet District we ended in the Grand Bazaar and got lost. Lost INSIDE the Bazaar. I have never before had to ask for direction in order to EXIT a building. This place is literally a maze and every isle looks the same so it's not even like you could use land marks to help navigate your way. But it certainly a fun adventure. I didn't really mind getting lost because you get to shop all along the way. But this place is so huge, NFL stadium size huge, that once you do find your way to an exit you are still super disoriented as to where you are on the outside. So we wandered around. Found some other cool shops. They are everywhere. Shops here, tea there, another shop here, some pastries over there, boots, books, kebab, another shop, some coffee, and all the while there are street vendors selling things such as fresh caught fish, roasted chestnuts, baked goods, jewelry, and black market watches/perfume. Anyways, we followed the crowd and finally found our way onto a pedestrian populated street (with the occasional car that seemed to part the red sea of Istanbullus) which we figured would eventually lead us somewhere that we were familiar with. Along the way we stopped for a quick bite to eat seeing as we had just had a long hard day of site seeing and shopping. We got a well deserved pizza-esque meal, used the restaurants free&clean bathroom, and were on our way out when we noticed the bakery section.....! So we split a most delicious banana cake thing which was so delicious that we had to get another one in the chocolate variety. NOM! We then made our way back onto the street and finally oriented ourselves when we were able to see the Galata Bridge which we proceeded to walk across to find the Füniküler station (which is an above ground metro that connects the underground lines). 

The pictures below are the view of Sultanahmet (and the New Mosque) from the Galata Bridge. The reflection of lights on the water in addition to the contrast of old and new made this the perfect scene.