Turkiye: Day 1

I'm back!!!
Was on vacation in Turkey with my family. 21 of us :)
I loveee Turkey!!! Will definitely recommend it and I will definitely visit Istanbul again if I can.
So here is a super brief day by day recap sorta like a travel journal! Hope that it can somewhat act as a guide if you do plan to visit Turkey (or maybe inspire you to go :)

Day 1: ISTANBUL
Historically also known as Byzantium and Constantinapole.
Istanbul has a population of 15 million.
Istanbul is the only metropolis in the world that is situated on 2 continents - Asia (Anatolia) and Europe.

1. 'Fresh' from the plane at 7am, we went sightseeing...
2. But first we stopped by for breakfast at Saray cafe situated in front of the New Mosque. Had cheese bread and meat bread (The kids attacked the dishes so I never had chance for pictures). Had my first taste of Turkish coffee...small but strong!
3. Visited Topkapi palace.
It was built in the 15th century with Asian influence architecture and design and has so many lovely courtyards. The palace was transformed into a museum at the end of the Ottoman empire. It displays many treasuries and relics of the Ottoman empire and Islamic collections including swords of the caliphs and prophet Muhammad. Some of the swords were hugeeeee. Hehe you can only imagine how strong they were ;)

At one of the lovely courtyards

View from the palace

5. It was extremely cold and we took 'refuge' in hot corns and chestnuts sold by the roadside. Oooh also tried fresh pomegranate juice. Yummmy (Plus point: Taste nutritious)6. Attempted to visit the Blue Mosque nearby. It was prayer time so visitors had no access. Below is the wudhu' place just underneath the mosque (Wudhu' is the cleansing ritual of oneself before prayers)7. Checked in at about 3pm and retired to a nice warm bubble bath...what a life :)

8. Walked about the main shopping street on the new side of Istanbul...very crowded with ppl (but then again it was Saturday evening). People in Istanbul are on average good looking - guys and girls!
9. Tried Turkish wine just before dinner. Quite yummy (too bad didnt remember the name of the bottle as we suffered from some bad wines later on).
10. Later on in the night we had seafood by the fish market and had our first taste of Turkish ice-cream....was as chewy as the 'rabbit' candy!^8 Cee