Istanbul Turkey

Istanbul is Turkey's major city.  A city of many Mosques and famous for many reasons.  Historically it was the Christian City of Constantinople.  Now it is predominantly Muslim.  From the ship we arrived on you can see the many minarets and domes across the bridge.  This bridge is a favorite of fishermen.
As we entered the city is was a cultural experience immediately.  The bustling city was full of people rushing to their next destination.  I was dressed in what I considered "modest"attire.  I wore long pants and a long sleeve shirt but this is the only place that I have traveled to where I felt immodest.  Some of the men that we passed, whistled at me and I felt out of place with most of the women in the city wearing full Muslim attire, with their hair covered with the Burka and scarves.

Istanbul's commercial attraction is called the Grand Bazaar.  The colorful piles below are spices and the spice market is huge in Istanbul.  The Grand Bazaar has a maze of merchandise in every direction under a permanent ceiling to keep the treasures safe and from the weather.

The other main attraction is the huge Mosques.  The call for prayer is heard throughout the city and you can witness the inside of the churches and see the rituals and prayers several times a day.  There are no seats in the churches and they are used mostly for prayer.They ask that women wear a scarf inside the church and showing reverence and respect is very important.  Here are some pictures of the churches we saw and visited.

The turkish people like to sell things to you especially their famous turkish rugs.  They will ship them to your house and will go to all lengths to get you to buy, including following you down the road and dropping their price until you consent.  We did not need a rug and feel it was quite an accomplishment to make it back on the ship without one in our hand or being shipped to us.  We had a great discussion with a very nice man who was, yes, trying to sell us a rug.  He was Muslim and we are Christians and we discussed the similarities in our beliefs.  He revered Jesus as a good person and said that he will return someday as he promised but when we told him that we look to Jesus for our Salvation, he responded very passionately with "No, No don't do that, You will go to fire!!" We hope no good person has to go to fire.  We found common ground on many things and the thing he found the most unbelievable is that we had never tasted alcohol, even wine.  He could not wrap his mind around that.
Turkey's flag is shown below and proudly displayed in many locations.  We felt fairly safe in the city despite the whistles and persistent rug marketing.