Enjoying everyday life

As I was searching for my next activity to blog about, I concluded I should just write down the routine that I have found myself getting into comfortably. Every morning, I wake up with a cup of Turkish coffee. I have perfected the ability to make this thick as mud coffee, though I believe the caffine content can only be half of American coffee! The mornings are often spent cleaning the top floor of the hostel where the living room and kitchen are situated. Next, it is time to make a plan for the day. Plans often included walks to parks around town, to random museums, or to venture into one of the many markets in search for a good deal. Here are some photos of the past week or so of events! First, this is the Islamic Art Museum. This museum is in the main tourist square called Sultanahmet Meydan.
It is housed in a palace that once belonged to a sultan. There are hundreds of small rooms with chimneys in each, along with a few large ballroom size expanses. The collection included beautiful Turkish rugs (some dating back to the fourth century), a lot of Islamic calligraphy in Arabic letters, and many relics from archeology digs from around Turkey.
Next up, there are the incredible markets here. This is the Saturday organic market, that this past week was covered in snow. It is always a beautiful site with kind people to try to practice my pathetic Turkish!
Another of my favorite pass times is jumping aboard one of the dozens of ferries that cruise between the European and Asian coasts. Transporting the citizens from home to work and then back again. This is a photo from sunset today off from the ferry back from Kadikoy!
These are the two most famous mosques in Istanbul. The one on the right is Hagia Sophia (now turned into a museum) and the other Sultanahmet (which gave its name to the area of town that it is located). This photo also includes some of the hundreds of seagulls that follow the ferries on their trek across the water in hopes the passengers aboard throw them some bread!! In writing this post, I know the next of my topics will be food (yemek) of Istanbul. My mission now is to do some research!