The Malik Sisters : Marhaba, Turkey!

The Malik Sisters take Turkey!

First stop, Turkey! We decided to share our memories from each stop of our amazing vacation with you. We had stopped in Turkey twice during our vacation. Although we were there only a handful of days in total, we made memories for a lifetime. Turkey is definitely an amazing place to go see! The culture of the country is so rich and mesmerizing, anyone can fall in love! While we were there, we visited a ton of places. We first stayed in Old Istanbul, the more historical part of the city. There we stayed in a hotel in the middle of the local streets of the city. The little streets of Istanbul are amazingly beautiful. Staying there for a few days was the best decision we made! The old streets of Istanbul flooded with tourists, were full of restaurants, fun places to hang out, hookah, and of course amazing Turkish delights. We were able to enjoy every bit of Old Istanbul when we stayed there. We walked through most of it and took the tram as much as we could to travel throughout the city. We enjoyed the yummy food and sweets of Turkey every time we were out! From the baklava to the ice cream, it was all absolute yummy-ness!We also stayed in the newer part of Istanbul. While we were there, we took our time to see everything we missed out the first time. During our stay in Turkey, we visited a ton of places! First and for most, there are hundreds of mosques in Turkey. And of course, each and every one of these mosques are beautiful. Of course, we were unable to see that many, but the few mosques that we did see were absolutely breathtaking. The mosques that we visited were the Hagia Sophia, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (also known as the Blue Mosque), and the Suleymaniye Mosque. We were blessed to pray in all three of these mosques as well. That in itself was a dream come true! Besides the mosques, we visited the Topkapi Palace, The Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, the Taksim Square, and took the Istanbul Bosphorus Cruise to see the beauty of Turkey from the ocean. The Topkapi palace is an amazing place to go because you are able to see so much of the history in one place. The Palace is huge and has so much in it to go see from flower gardens, to gorgeous view of the oceans, to museums that hold the treasures of the Turkish royalty. The Grand Bazaar is a girl's dream come true! If you want to go shopping in Turkey, go to the Grand Bazaar! It's a cultural bazaar filled with tiny shops that is so hard to leave without buying anything! The Spice Bazaar is a bazaar full of spices, the very famous Turkish delights, and other sweets and food. The Taksim Square was a beautiful place to walk around and enjoy the amazing weather. Lastly, one of the coolest things we did in Turkey was take the Bosphorus Cruise around the city. It was amazing to see the views from the ocean and to learn more about the history of the country. We would definitely recommend visiting Turkey- we can't wait to go back!! Enjoy!

Above are a few pictures of the mosques we visited. One thing we loved was the call to prayer five times a day. Hearing the prayer throughout the city and seeing everyone run to the mosque to pray was so amazing!

The Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar are two bazaars you HAVE to go see! They are filled with tiny shops and they were sooo pretty! The lights, colors, and spices were so nice to look at. Oh and when you walk into the sweets shops, they let you try the Turkish delights, hehe! Who wouldn't want to munch on yummy sweets while shopping?!