Istanbul

Alright, forget about Burkina Faso, Istanbul is where it's at. An absolutely amazing city with tons to see and do, great food and a lively atmosphere. This city is worth your time, no question.

So what makes Istanbul cool? Well, let's take a short tour...

OK, so first off, I have to say that the Hagia Sophia (as seen from my hostel rooftop) is one of the most amazing churches you're ever likely to visit. It looks a bit drab on the outside...

 But inside is absolutely stunning!

When you come here, you feel completely overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place.

And the inside is done up in amazing mosaic tile work. Check out my namesake, looks pretty good.

And the place looks fantastic at night.

Across the street is the equally stunning Blue Mosque, well worth a visit, but somehow less impressive than the Hagia I thought.

Underneath it all is a giant cistern, which is kind of neat, but really only amounts to a big empty room underground.

More impressive, I thought, was the huge aqueduct which fed the cistern. Somehow this isn't a huge tourist attraction, but it's still pretty neat.

A bit further afield is the Dolmabahce Palace, an incredible place, the grand hall alone was worth the price of admission (no pictures inside, unfortunately). What sets it apart is that all the old furniture and decorations are still around, making it feel like the real deal. I had also visited the more famous Topkapi Palace, but to be honest, I didn't think it was all that great.

Dolmabahce Palace from the water.

The 'real' part of Istanbul is a lot of fun. Shops, people, trams, people, ice cream and views. The north side of the Golden Horn is definitely worth a visit, just to see a bit more of the true Istanbul and get away from the thousands of tourists for a while.

Plus, I found the headquarters of:

Crazy story, in my hostel I met this girl Ashley, who is teaching in Cairo, but whose parents are living in Fairview(!) For those of you who don't know northern Alberta, Fairview is more or less right next door to my hometown of Grande Prairie. Anyway, we hung out for a while and had a great time exploring the city together.

And that's it! What are you waiting for? Go book your flight to Turkey, you won't regret it! I'm really looking forward to going back someday to visit more of this amazing country, graduation won't come soon enough...