A Trip to Turkey: Day 1 Istanbul

My wife and I decided to go to Turkey for our honeymoon because we could do two weeks in Turkey as opposed to one week in Europe. We were also feeling a bit adventurous as Turkey is usually not the first destination people think of for a honeymoon. Our trip would start off with a 4 hour flight to Toronto, Canada and from there a 10+ hour flight to Istanbul. We would be going to 6 cities in our adventure and the first one would be the city of Istanbul. One thing to note is recently I sold all my Nikon gear and switched to a Fujifilm system. My travel gear consisted of the Fujifilm X-T1, Fujifilm XF 18-55 f/2.8. Fujifilm 18mm f/2, and a manual focus Canon FD 50mm f/1.4.

After landing, we were dropped off at the Legacy Ottoman Hotel in Istanbul. An old hotel built in the 1920s with lots of character. Our schedule today was to check out a few local Mosques and the Spice Bazaar before our welcome dinner at the hotel with the rest of the tour group.

Lunch at the Hamdi Restaurant. We ordered a veal and lamb kebap which was served with a small salad and couscous. We would be eating a lot of couscous on this trip.

New Mosque, Suleymaniye Cami, Sehzadebasi Mosque, Spice Bazaar and the Mahmutpasa Street Bazaar. Couple of things we noticed about Istanbul. Traffic is horrible and there are stray cats everywhere. During the day, its hustle and bustle but when we went out in the evening to take photos, it dies down pretty quickly. The main mosques are quite beautiful and large. Standard procedure is to take off your shoes before entering, mosques provide little plastic bags to put your shoes in. Women are required to cover their heads with a scarf before going in.