Provence

So this past weekend our group went to the province of Provence in south-eastern France. The weather was amazing - sunny and in the 50's all weekend, because we were hanging out on the Mediterranean coast (check out the map below to see where that is relative to Paris). We took a train, but it only took us about 3 hours each way because they have an amazing system of high-speed rail here. It's called the TGV and can reach speeds of up to 200 mph. It's really great to look out the window, it feels like you're flying. I didn't take that many pictures, but check out what we got to see...

While we were driving on Saturday, we stopped the bus for a minute to get out and take pictures of this bridge. I missed the beginning of the explanation because I was half-asleep, but the reason it's interesting is because it's only half-finished; at some point they decided to repair or rebuild it but gave up halfway through. You can see that on the left side of this photo.

The next thing we went to was the Pont du Gard, which actually still is in one piece and is even more amazing because it was an aqueduct bridge built by the Romans around 40-60 AD. I remember seeing pictures of these in textbooks when I took World History in high school, but what they didn't tell us is that they're actually full-service bridges too. We got to walk across, and it was surprisingly huge - an entire army of horses could cross here if they wanted to! I'm sure that wasn't an accident, but it was still pretty cool. 

More images of the bridge, and views from the top!

Me with some of my friends, hanging out at one end of the bridge.

On top of the bridge.

Next we went to the city of Arles, which is known for its Roman Amphitheater! Kevin and I joked that we'd seen it all before, but actually it was really cool to see Roman ruins in France. Plus they let us wander all over the amphitheater, which still hosts lots of events, including bullfights!

Check out the view from on top of one of the arena's towers. Look at that blue sky! Especially for the kids from the northeast, we really had to remind ourselves that it was January... yes, I am trying to make you guys jealous a bit.

Next to the tower, just to the left of what you see in the first picture above, you could see the tops of the arena's arches. We all wondered what would happened if we jumped the barrier and went running across this. 

More views of the city.

And this is what the inside of the arena looks like today.

Last we went to Marseille, which is truly right on the coast. When we got off the bus we headed to this new museum (the Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations), which actually wasn't that interesting, especially considering how exhausted we all were from having gone out the night before. Plus the wind right next to the water was so strong that we all almost got blown away.

This is us bracing ourselves so we didn't get thrown into the water.

Just a giant church that we didn't even get to visit.

The coast!

During our city tour we wandered into this historical site. If you look closely, you can see that it's the remains of giant jars. More recently (as in, sometime in the last 50 years or so), while digging around on this site to put up some new buildings, the people of Marseille discovered this hidden cache of pottery from Roman times. The huge jars were used to store wine or olive oil. 

Some streets in Marseille. 

A random building that I thought was cool.

The Roman influence in this French city was incredible.

And those are all the pics I have! After my huge posts from my winter travels that felt surprisingly short, but I hope it looked cool!

Istanbul

So I'm finally almost done with all the pictures - here's everything from Istanbul! The first two nights I stayed in a hostel with Kevin, which was in the same amazing neighborhood as the apartment we rented the next few nights with three of our other friends. Both of these spots were right by the tower in the picture below - it's called the Galata tower, which was built in 1348 and is in the northern part of the European side of Istanbul. Istanbul is divided into east (Europe) and west (Asia) by the Bosphorus Strait, and the European part is further divided into north and south by the Golden Horn, which is basically just part of the strait that juts in a bit more. A bit hard to explain, so here's a map I found online (http://web.mit.edu/space/www/kip_antalya/resimler/istanbul.jpg). You can see Galata marked right above the Golden Horn. 

The Galata Tower at night. 

Kevin and I giggled when we saw this shop - it was just another tourist-y place but the name was catchy.

The first thing we visited was the Haggia Sophia! It was originally a Greek Orthodox church, then it was converted into a mosque for the sultans of the empire. In order to do this they basically just plastered over most of the Catholic images and installed the necessary Muslim structures to mark the direction of Mecca and therefore the direction to pray. Nowadays it's just a museum. All in all, it looked a lot more like the other mosques we've visited than any church I've ever seen, but that could just be because I've only ever seen churches in Western Europe without any Eastern or Arab influence.  

Interior views.

We were able to go up into the balcony parts of the Haggia Sophia, which had some great objects on display. Some of them were even for sale, but I don't really have hundreds of Euros to spare so I hope no one expects a golden-coated dagger for Christmas next year.

This stuff looks like it came right out of Aladdin - remember the scene in the beginning where the guy is trying to sell all sorts of fancy glassware and eventually pulls out the magic lamp?

View of the mosque, as seen from above.

Just one of the many fancy ceilings. 

Domes on domes on domes.

And here's an example of that early Christian influence - there were a few mosaics like this that were hidden during the conversion and still haven't been completely recovered. 

More Christian mosaics.

I don't remember perfectly so don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure this is the one where Jesus is hanging out with two sultans. Pretty historically accurate if you ask me. 

In this case I do remember the story - this guy on the corner was a prince or some other slightly less important royal figure who came later but still wanted to hang out with Jesus. There wasn't any room left to stick him in the main picture, so they put him on this awkward column off to the side.

Just hangin' out, as usual.

Such pretty tiles everywhere.

So Istanbul has about a million "stray" cats, who in general aren't really scruffy and don't seem stray at all. I'm not sure what the deal is with that, but they pretty much run the town. This cat was wandering around the Haggia Sophia saying hi to tourists, and then it went and sat in this area, which seemed to me to basically be the altar. Kitty does what he wants. 

Mosaic of the Virgin Mary.

This thing was outside and labeled as a fountain. Not sure how that works, but it was pretty!

Next we went and checked out the fancy buildings that serve as tombs for many former sultans and their families. I paused outside one of them because I noticed that the sign was written very clearly in Turkish, English, and for some reason, French. It was an extremely passive aggressive historical account claiming that tiles from the exterior of the building were taken down and sent to France "for restoration" in the 19th century. Instead of sending them back, however, the French sent back replicas and kept the originals for themselves. Apparently they are currently on display at the Louvre - I haven't had a chance to check them out yet but I know the Louvre has an extensive Islamic Arts exhibit. The whole story seems a bit shady to me, but I looked it up online afterwards and it turns out it's quite a scandal. That explains why the sign was written in French with such a sassy tone. Anyway, here's some pics of the tombs.

This is me with some pretty (non-stolen) wall tiles! Whenever we went into any mosques/tombs/etc the girls have to cover their heads in respect. I don't think I'm very good at it though, my scarf kept falling off. And my feet were cold from walking around in my socks, we had to take our shoes off everywhere.

This little black kitty is sitting in a tree trunk next to some super old Turkish artifacts. Again, he does what he wants. 

This Turkish Coffee I got was too pretty not to share! It actually tastes pretty gross though, only about half of it is water and then you hit the nasty coffee grind part. But it looks nice, and it was cheaper than a French espresso!

Interior view of another mosque - I quickly lost track of which was which.

This guy was hanging out next to the Bosphorus with a BB gun and all these balloons tied up. If I'd been willing to pay him, I could've taken some shots at them. Not sure why he's allowed to hang out with a gun, but whatever.

The Bosphorus Strait!

Yet another mosque. Check out how big it is!

Interior of the Grand Bazaar! We spent a lot of time exploring spices and such here. I ate so much baklava and Turkish Delight it was absurd.

Door to the Grand Bazaar.

A random balcony.

Does someone live in this colorful little hut??

Next we went on a 2 hour boat tour of the Bosphorus. It was around 50 degrees for most of our stay, but we still sat inside the boat rather than on top. Check out some of the views.

So many boats and seagulls!

So many fancy old buildings - I think this might have been a palace? We didn't go in because everything was super expensive and walking around is free!

More Turkish architecture.

Yet another mosque.

A colorful back street.

For some reason we decided to stop by the 4 Seasons for a fancy drink. Check out how pretty it is!

Inside of another mosque. By the end I was a bit mosque-d out, but they are all gorgeous.

We also stumbled upon this street, which was in the middle of the city but for some reason had chickens. I was a bit afraid this rooster was going to attack me.

The mosaic-style signs are everywhere.

And that's all I have! In general Istanbul was a blast, it was so different from anything I've ever seen. Besides the baklava I also really enjoyed getting freshly squeezed Pomegranate juice from street vendors - they would take whole pomegranates and squeeze them right in front of you. Plus the Turkish lira is extremely favorable - 2 liras is about $1, so everything seemed super cheap, especially compared to Paris. I hope i didn't bore you with all the mosque pics, I think they're pretty cool!