Istanbul!

Tara and I left on a bus Tuesday and headed to Istanbul for 3 days! We planned on taking an overnight train, but when we went to buy the tickets we were told that the train wasn't running because of some "big problem with the line". After some internet research, we found out that there had been some flooding that damaged the tracks and the line would be closed for at least a month. We checked into alternatives and found out there was an overnight bus that also ran to Istanbul. We were a little concerned, though, because right around that time, Greece experienced a frog plague that closed the highway for a little while and then slowed traffic once it reopened. Some people were claiming that the frogs were forewarning a massive earthquake. You can't make this stuff up, folks.

We ended up taking the overnight bus (which was quite nice, by the way) and arrived in Istanbul safe and sound. I'll spare you the continuous details of our trip, but we basically did all of the normal tourist things in the city. We visited the Blue Mosque as well as Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia), saw the Basilica Cistern, shopped at the Grand Bazaar, went to the top of Galata Tower, walked around the Taksim district, and took a ferry out Büyükada, which is one of the Prince's Islands. Most of the restaurants and bars around town had waterpipes (or hookah as we usually call it in the US) so both evenings that we were there we hung out and smoked some hookah to wind down our evening. Don't tell my mom.

All in all, it was a great trip. In my opinion we were there for the perfect amount of time. We didn't run out of things to do, but I did just about everything I wanted to do and was tired and ready to come back to Greece.

Tara has about 2 more weeks here and I have about 3 and a half so we still have a little more time to enjoy Europe. We are considering taking another trip to either Berlin and Prague or London and have also talked to my parents about taking a trip to Lefkáda, which is an island (but it's connected by a bridge) on the Ioanian/Italy side of Greece. We are also planning on spending a day or two in Halkidiki, which is a set of 3 gorgeous peninsulas with some awesome beaches on the other side of Thessaloniki. I'm also enjoying just spending time with my parents and am already dreading saying goodbye again in a few weeks!

Oh, and if you know my brother, Andy, you should tell him Happy Birthday because he's turning 25 today. What an old man! He's also about to be a dad (and therefore I'm about to be an aunt) so maybe I'll have something to blog about when I'm back in Texas. We'll see!