Goodbye Istanbul! Hello Izmir (Smyrna)!

This morning was a perfect morning to begin our final day of exploring Istanbul. We walked to the spice bazaar or Egyptian Bazaar. It is smaller than the Grand Bazaar and a little different. You guessed it, it has lots of spices! The smells were so great! Colleen and I both got some goodies to take home!

Here's a picture of Colleen standing next to some spices!

Right outside the Egyptian Bazaar was the Bosphorus. We crossed the street and boarded the ferry for our cruise. The Bosphorus is the body of water that passes along the shores of Istanbul and is about 20 miles long. It's the physical divider between the continents of Europe and Asia. It gives passage to/from the Black Sea to the Marmara. The scenery was so beautiful and relaxing.

Here are some pictures from the ferry...

Chora Church was next. Wow! This 11th-century church has remarkable mosaics illustrating scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary. I am so amazed by this place. 11th-century!!! Our guide was so full of knowledge, he explain everything so clearly and was very patient with our millions of questions.

Here is a picture of us standing outside the church. It looks so, bare and unassuming... but once you walk inside you're mouth drops open in awe. I decided not to show you the inside. I want you to have the same jaw dropping experience that we did. It's so much more fun that way!

After we said good bye to our guide Arol, we flew to Izmir via Turkish Airlines and once again, Turkish was remarkable with their service and timeliness. The flight was only 1 hour long and they actually served us a meal. Yes, you heard that right! I was once again very impressed by this airline!

So, here we are now, at the Izmir Princess Hotel. Time to get some rest for a big day tomorrow. The seven churches await us (and you) in the coming days.

Kim