Waiting to catch our flight,
after landing in Germany our next plane followed the Danube to the Black Sea, then along the coast of Bulgaria and landed in Istanbul
the Alps were spectacular,
The Black Sea was full of cargo ships, 
landing in Istanbul we see bunkers,
heading into the city we notice how clean and beautiful everything is, 
the we see the old mixed with the new, 
the old Byzantine gates and walls, 
These are the walls from when the city was known as Constantinople, the capital of the eastern Roman Empire. They were finished in 413 during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II. The road we are traveling follows the original Roman road. 
The Roman aqueduct, was very close to our hotel. There is a park on each side of the intersection of Ataturk Blv and Sehzadebasi Cd that my parents walked the kids to everyday so they could play.
Sehzade Mosque which was right behind our hotel,
Erica carrying my backpack,
we'd been flying all night and everyone was pretty tired, I was looking forward to sleep but Erik, thankfully, wanted to go explore,
leaving the hotel,
This building is part of the Istanbul University but I couldn't find out what it was historically, notice the delivery men,
walking along Ordu Cd which follows the old Roman road, they say if you find a straight road anywhere in the Roman empire then it follows the old Roman road, the red and white brick is a sign of a Byzantine structure,
big open area, Beyazit Meydani Square at the Sultan Beyazit Mosque right at the university, during Roman times it was the Forum Tauri,
I didn't realize at this time why this little boy is dressed this way but he had or was going to have his circumcision, they have it done at an age where the child will remember it......
main entrance gate to the University,
gate to the courtyard of the cami (mosque)
we walked straight ahead to the covered bazaar,
ceiling of the bazaar,
there are carts selling, chestnuts, bread, and corn everywhere,
walking back along Ordu Cd,
passing all sorts of interesting sites,
back up to the Mosaic, our hotel
the boys were already fast asleep.
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