Day Two in Istanbul/The Conquest of Istanbul

Day 4 of our Turkish Adventure!

Yesterday, Josh and I met a good friend of Mr. Balikci named Haydar, a Turkish teacher from the San Antonio Raindrop Turkish House. He took us out to a nice dinner at a very classy restaurant near the famous Bosphorus River. After our meal, the gang headed out to a famous Istanbul event that happens once every year. The event was called The Conquest of Istanbul: 1453, which tells the story of the Turkish victory over the Byzantines. The show had lasers and fireworks, followed by a movie and the Ottoman Military band. Josh and I were also interviewed by a Turkish news reporter about our amazing experience so far! More adventures still to come! :)

-John

We woke up early for a nice breakfast. After the breakfast, we had some conversation with our new Turkish friends. In the late afternoon,  we had a dinner with Mr. Balikci's friend. He took us to the main city by the Bosporus and we had an amazing dinner. At the dinner, Joshua had beef and rice, I had stuffed vegetables and Mr. Balikci had lamp chops. The taste of food was very different. It was quite tasty.

Today was the celebration of the conquest of Istanbul from Byzantine 1453. There was a laser show and an outdoor presentation by the bay area. There were lots of people. Me and Josh gave an interview to a Turkish TV about the event.

We had a chance to listen the Ottoman Band alive and it was quite interesting. Mr. B said it was the first military band in the world.

The event was very colorful and the fireworks was spectacular.

After the fireworks Mr. Balikci's friend took us to a cafe to have some Turkish ice cream. The Turks know how to make ice cream because it was just delicious.

That's all for know and we will keep you posted.

-The Balikci Boys

Day One in Istanbul/ Bosporus

The fist day of our trip was very good. We had to walk up to the bus station and took a city bus to Besiktas. We took the ferry to Kadikoy which is in the Asian Side of Istanbul. We are staying at European Side of Istanbul. We had a great ferry ride and took many pictures.

We climbed up to a cafe on top of a hill which has a great view of Bosporus and we had some desert and tea. The combination of dark blue color of water of Bosporus and green and two sides of Istanbul are extraordinary. It was a good first day and we will post more pictures. 

We wanna give a shout out to 'The Camera Exchange' in San Antonio for giving us an awesome camera! Please check them out... 

-The Balikci Boys

Tucson Arizona / April 2013

There were Sun and dust,

Trees and a cactus...

I saw the largest moon,

Witnessed the tango between a hornet and a flower,

Tried to catch a moment just before the s-set,

Experienced the high and low altitude in a half hour...

There were Sun and dust,

Trees between giant cactuses...

It was an amazing story

that I kept some in my mind!

And I wrote some of them here

through my camera... enjoy!

Corpus Christi Texas / February 2013

It was an amazing time when the sun meets the dusk...

Birds are getting ready to rest.

The time passed in Corpus,

And the memories keep coming back...

There are some of those memories...