A Snapshot of Istanbul

Istanbul is a beautiful city. The architecture here is absolutely amazing. I may have gone a little crazy taking photos of every building I could see (and there are a lot of them).

It's lively and vibrant, and a bit gritty.

Turks are incredibly patriotic. There are flags absolutely everywhere. When we first arrived, we kept feeling like we were in the middle of a war movie. And then we kept kicking ourselves for being so sheltered that a few old buildings and flags immediately make us think of Nazis.

April is the month their tulip festival is held, so we've been lucky enough to see practically every bit of garden in the city full of tulips.