In an ongoing quest to motivate thesis writing & rack up historic sites, I’ve committed to doing one long weekend trip per month. January was London, February was Paris, and this month was…drumroll please…Istanbul.

Since Istanbul is divided by water, ferries were one of our main modes of transport.

Other methods of transit included metro, tram, bus, and foot — for an average of eleven miles walked daily. I estimate that eight of those miles were spent exclusively in baklava stores, sampling Turkish Delights.

Of course, we had many stops for tea, coffee, and posing with tiny cake spoons.

Interesting street corners abounded.

Public telephones bringing that 1950s style.

You can’t go to Istanbul without visiting historic sites, and you can’t visit many of the historic sites without covering your head. Hence our new look: scarf chic.

Istanbul is known for its stray cats…to the point where there’s even a documentary about them. Of the many we met, a few even posed long enough for photos.