Port #1 - Istanbul

I was both excited for, and anxious about, our stop in Istanbul. Excited because I'd heard so many good things about the city and anxious because we were going to try and explore the city on our own and I had a long list of "must see" sights. It turned out the excitement was well warranted and the anxiety was not. Istanbul is an amazing city and with the help of my Rick Steves' tour book, we covered all the places I had highlighted and more. My favorite stops were the spice market, the underground cistern and the Blue Mosque.