Prior visits to Istanbul : Istanbul 2000 - 2011

MARCH 2012

In March 2012 the whole Wenger family visited Istanbul.  The Wenger Sr.'s got to meet my family and admire the historic sights of Istanbul. We stayed at the classic Hilton with a great view of the Bosphorus.  Stephan, my super organized husband/hero had arranged for a limo to take us around - no parking, no waiting for taxis, no worrying about addresses and on top of it all our driver spoke English which made life  much easier.  We took Johanna and Heiner to all the must-see places and they enjoyed every minute of their stay and the comforts we provided.

We started with a dinner on the Bosphorus

Next we did the Topkapi Palace, Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the Hagia Sophia [Ayasofya] and the Cisterns [Yerebatan Sarayi].

Sultan Ahmed Mosque [The Blue Mosque]

Hagia Sophia [Ayasofya]

The amazing mosaics that have survived thanks to the whitewashing during the period it was a mosque.

A dodge of Venice who took part in the 4th Crusade at the age of 90 and blind and died in Constintanople.  He was buried in Hagia Sophia but this is not the original burial spot...

Topkapi Palace

We walked around the palace visited the Treasury and had lunch at Konyali in the palace itself.  Great view, good food and the Wengers loved it.

The Basilica Cistern [Yerebatan Sarayi] 

Not only we did tourist stuff but we also visited family and had lunch and dinners with loved ones.    i.e. Odette, Talin, Ayse, Ohannes, May and last but not least Mayicig who was also visiting from SF.

We had a royal feast at Odette's house!

We had dinner with a night view of the city on top of a building in Karaköy.

We had lunch thanks to Ayse and Nihal Hanim at Moda Kulubu.

View from our hotel room :  Daybreak over the Bosphorus and the city during the day. 

We crossed the Bosphorus over the Ataturk Bridge and went to Camlica to see the city from the Asian side.

We also went to Soorp Krikor Loosavorich Church [St Gregory the Illuminator] in Kuzguncuk.  The most touching part of this visit was to see how Turks and Armenians lived in peace and next to each other prior to the unfortunate events of 1915.  We woke up the jamgoch who opened the doors and we lit our candles and made a donation to the church.

A trip to Istanbul had to include a lovely view fo the Kiz Kulesi from the Asian side.

And finally Dr. Wenger enjoyed an old fashioned shoe shine in the hotel.

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