We had planned to go to Istanbul from Nepal. We arrived in Istanbul in the middle of a large storm, it was hard to grasp a picture of the city for the first time in this storm, but by the next days adventures we could see how much of a vibrant metropolis it really is. The city itself is absolutely huge, it keeps spanning on for miles and miles. The city skyline is filled with the domes of the mosques nestled all throughout the city, the call to prayer is evident very often throughout the day. The city is very beautiful and filled with an old world charm. For first timers to this city it can be quite overwhelming as there is so much to do and see.  But we had been given some great advice of things to do and see. We visited a few mosques. I was truly impressed by the mosques, as they were so well preserved and such large structures. The beautifully painted ceilings were something I could spend all day looking up at. I found myself drawn to the beautiful tile work that was in all these mosques. These motifs’ are continually surrounded and adorned on all the walls.  We also visited the main shopping area that was one of the largest shopping areas I had seen. We visited the spice bizarre and also the grand bizarre; I was really impressed by the spice bizarre, as it was just a treat for the eyes and the senses. I was not that impressed by the grand bizarre, as it felt like the same things repeated over and over again, there is only a certain amount of carpet stores I can look at. I had my first taste of Turkish delight in turkey; we also visited the blue mosque, but was ushered in then ushered out rather quickly because it was prayer time. I was really impressed by the blue mosque as it had this magnificent glow that made everything sparkle inside of it. we wanted to visit the Hagias Sophia, one of the biggest mosques in the world but the line up to go into it was huge. So we decided to not go. We visited the Topkapi Palace the home of the ottoman empire king and his entourage of people. There was that many people trying to get into all the rooms and courtyards it made it a little less special, but tit still was very interesting, if you were religious this would be the place to go!, we also visited the Harem inside of the palace. This was quite interesting.  Istanbul has some of the best music shops in the world and I could not help myself, I had looked up online before I got there  where to go and I was shocked at the amount of variety of beautiful traditional instruments. I was in the market for a Turkish Oud  (lute) and I certainly spent a few days looking at the different instruments and then decided on the ones I wanted. I also decided to buy one more instrument called the Baglama (sass) and I have been traveling with this instrument and have truly fallen head over heels for this instrument. It has a very unique sound.