The Istanbul Series – A walk through the history

Hello ladies and gentlemen!

It is already weekend in the Sheikh-land and everyone is all smiles.

In that very smiley mood, yours truly shall show you a glimpse of the very well-preserved historical monuments of Istanbul.

The Blue Mosque, the Topkapi  Palace, Hagia Sophia, the Cistern – each one of them is stunningly beautiful. It is best to book a tour for these places as they can be best enjoyed under the guidance of a locale.

So, presenting the amazing historical heritage of Turkey here in my last post under the Istanbul series – Don’t miss going to the mysterious Cistern and take note of the very fat fish there and you just can’t afford to miss eating at the café at the Topkapi Palace. Look at its picture below and you would know why. *Smiles*

The Blue Mosque

The Cistern

The cafe at Topkapi Palace

The Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque

The Istanbul Series @Buyukada – An island of a dream

An island of a dream!

White Villas obscured by Pink Bougainvillea, making the most stunning frames with the blue skies above, giving the whole scene a blast of sunshine and a blanket of happiness.

Really sounds like a dream … isn’t it?

So, let me take you to Buyukada, the biggest and the most popular island amongst the nine islands in the Sea of Marmara, together known as ‘the Prince’s islands’ in Turkey.

The most favourite weekend getaway for Istanbulites from their busy city life, Buyukada is gorgeous and immensely scenic.

The peace, the virgin feel of the place takes you to a world, where summer is forever and smiles are a norm. It is said that the best thing about it is ‘the sound of silence’ as all motor vehicles are banned here – YES …. heaven isn’t it?

And so, the only sounds soothing your ears is the tingle of bicycle bells and horse hoofs.

Me and my husband think that our best day during this trip was the day spent at Buyukada and the best parts were the walk in the islands through the narrow streets with wooden Victorian cottages, pine and lemon trees, the lovely locals smiling back at us, the kids greeting us with the most welcoming eyes, the cute little market where I will take you to in a separate post and last but not the least, the splendid sunset that we witnessed at the top deck of the ferry while on our way back.

I am so glad we kept a full day for this magnificent time at Buyukada. It was total worth it.

To get to Buyukada, you can take a ferry or a sea-bus from Kabastas ( falls on the tram line). It takes an hour to reach there and the tickets are 8 TL per person.

Leaving you with a glimpse of the beautiful Buyukada – the pictures have been clicked by an awesome photographer, my husband 🙂

Have a lovely day!

Toodles!

Beautiful house with a Red Window – Dream!

Bougainvillea

The cottage

Another lovely villa

The horses in love

The sea-bus

The Istanbul Series – Part II@The Spice Bazaar

Overflowing with colour, the Spice Bazaar was a delight for the camera.

I was walking in the perimeter, gazing everything in wonder and sinking in the vibrance of the colourful collage spread before my eyes.

Sometimes while trying to make a living, we forget to live, we forget to stop and smell the roses, we forget to appreciate life in it’s various colours, we forget to think colourful.

Ah … I am sure you can tell, I love colours! *Smiles*

 

I want to talk less today and let the pictures do the talking.

After the round up of the Bazaars, I shall, in my next post, take you to meet the lovely people from Istanbul at one of the most beautiful islands in Turkey. Any guesses?

Until then, get colour-struck with these pictures and please do drop in a line if you like them.

Wishing you all a colourful Sunday!

Love!!

The various spices

Beautiful Blue Cutlery

sulemani chai set

Dried capsicum

The Dry-Fruits

Natural Tea

Turkish eye shop

The Istanbul Series – Part I@The Spice Bazaar with ‘the Turkish Delights’

Good Morning beautiful people! 🙂

It’s Friday today, which means a Saturday in the Sheikh-land – Sunday being the working Monday in this part of the world.

So, what are the weekend plans?

Would you be interested in a virtual trip to the famous ‘Spice Bazaar’ in Istanbul for the starters?

Alright, let me first tell you some useful details when you actually plan a visit to the lovely Istanbul. All the touristy places there fall on the tram line, which I bet you would enjoy more than the metro rides. We were in a hotel which fell in the ‘Aksaray’ station which was only few stations away from ‘Sultanahmat’ (where you have most of the historical buildings) and very close to Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar stations too.

I suggest you go to the Bazaars early in the morning to avoid all the crowd. They are open 8 AM onwards. One day, we went there in the evening just to get the feel of the crowded Bazaar but we were not able to look at things properly. And then, we went there one of the mornings, when there were hardly any people but the shop keepers and there was much more space to take pictures, surfing the shops and do some shopping.

I must say that both Grand Bazaar and Spice Bazaar are pretty expensive but if you are good at bargaining, you can strike a good deal.

Now, talking about the Spice Bazaar, what I enjoyed most clicking and tasting were the yummy ‘Turkish delights’. Kept together, they made such a colourful sight and truly a delight to eat too if you have a sweet tooth like me.

There were many a varieties of them and the shop-keepers happily allow you to taste them all before you make up your mind to choose a few to carry as souvenirs.

I got some stuffed with pistachios and almonds – they were delicious.

Have a look at how pretty they look –

Baklava – typical Middle-Eastern Dessert

The very crowded spice bazaar

The Istanbul Series-Part II@The Grand Bazaar

Hello lovely people!

A BIG thank you and much love to all of you for the likes on my blog and also liking my pictures on Facebook page.

Here is the link to my Facebook page. Would be really nice to connect with you in the world of Facebook too.

https://www.facebook.com/ChandniAtTheSheikhLand

Presenting Part II of the Grand Bazaar for you now. Look at the colourful spices and natural teas. Rose tea, pomegranate tea, strawberry tea, love tea ….. Ohhh Emmmm Geee! They are all so tempting and just look at the dazzling colours of the spices.

Infact they have a separate bazaar called the Spice Bazaar but I did not feel any difference between Spice Bazaar and Grand Bazaar. Both of them have got the same kind of stuff except that Grand Bazaar is bigger.

I will take you on the virtual journey of the Spice Bazaar too and you can see it yourself.

Also, the silver jewellery there and the pashminas were making me oooooh and aahhhhh.

More coming up tomorrow with all the useful details to help you to make most out of the Grand Bazaar, whenever you plan your visit to Istanbul

For now, enjoy these pictures and do drop in a line if you like them.

Love!

The Istanbul series – Part I@The Grand Bazaar

Hello lovely people from the Blog-land!

Wassup and all?

Yours truly begins the Turkey series from today, taking you all through a virtual trip to this awesomalicious part of the world, blessed with gorgeous blues of the ocean forming it’s backdrop, the sun smiling in its full glory over it, colours beaming from every nook and corner and inhabited by beautiful people.

So are you ready?

I so totally can hear a loud ‘YES’ and lemme tell ya’all, in case it’s a ‘NO’, I promise just have a look at these pictures and you surely are gonna ‘liebe’ them.

So, today I take you to the very famous and popular ‘Grand Bazaar’ in Istanbul.

Crowded, packed with people …. the moment you step into Grand Bazaar, I am warning you, be ready to be pushed, stepped onto and walked over. But let me also tell you, it is all so worth it because it is indeed the most gorgeous bazaar I have ever seen – Bracelets, necklaces, antiques, handmade bowls, cutlery, home décor, dresses, sheesha, Turkish eyes, Turkish delights, various kinds of teas, shoes and what not.

And of course, one post is not going to be enough for showing you what Grand Bazaar is all about so presenting to you Part I of the Grand Bazaar series.

The Turkish eye bracelets

The embroidered shoes

Ah … the gorgeous lamps to die for!

For the love of music!

The jumkas

The entry

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