Istanbul (...not Constantinople)

Ozlem organized a fantastic trip for us to her home in Instanbul this past weekend. Almost everyone in the group came on the trip and several spouses came as well, so there were about 25 of us. Having everyone together, in and of itself, meant we were going to have a blast.
We experienced true Turkish hospitality (they're practically obsessive about it). Every restaurant had food on the table practically before you had taken a seat! On Friday evening we had dinner at a traditional kabob place, and then on Saturday at another traditional Turkish restaurant - such wonderful food and different spices and combinations that we're used to in the western culture. Sunday afternoon after a boat tour on the Bosphorus, Ozlem took us to a casual fish restaurant where we enjoyed some of the fresh catch.
Saturday was the main sightseeing day. We saw Topkapi Palace which was home to all of the sultans and twice the size of the Vatican. Within the palace, we also toured the Harem. On the tour they emphasize how beneficial it was for girls to be in the Harem because they received good educations and then had better marriage prospects.... not sure I buy it completely. We also visited the Blue Mosque, the most famous mosque in the city, and the Haghia Sophia which had been a Christian church until the Turks conquered the city and turned it into a mosque. The day finished up in the Grand Bazaar where we practiced our haggling skills (or got ripped off, as the case may be). I bought a couple scarves and some beautiful, hand-painted bowls.
Istanbul is a huge city! It has about 10 million people and is (I was told) 150 kms wide. Everything is pretty crowded and tight and traffic was a beast no matter what time of day it was. You also have to be pretty savvy with the taxi drivers because they'll rip you off in a heart beat. The city, especially along the water, has quite a Mediterranean feel to it with the brightly colored houses overlooking the water. It was cold and rainy the whole weekend, so I'd love to go back some day and experience it during the summer. I've posted a bunch of pictures so you can get a feel for the city.
The only down side to the trip was that air flights between Berlin and Istanbul are not too frequent, so our return trip didn't leave Istanbul until 3:30am, putting us in our beds around 6:00am. It was rather hard to drag myself into work my 9 and work for the day. But thankfully I think I've caught up now.
Another hightlight of the trip is that it was my first time in ASIA! Most of the time we stayed on the European side of the city, but Sunday night we crashed at Ozlem's house before our flight and she lives on the Asian side. So I've now added another continent to my list.