The making of a Fenerbahce fan

Today, we woke up in Bursa. The sun was shining again, and we made our way toward the Green Mosque.

It was first thing in the morning, so completely quiet, which was really nice to be able to explore the mosque without feeling as if we were intruding.

Like many mosques, this was originally a Christian church. It's really interesting to see the columns and narthexes of the churches that were then converted that Indy pointed out to us along the way.

Then we saw the Green Tomb. Interesting as a building, but I didn't care much about the tomb piece.

Bursa seems to be a really lovely, walkable city.

We walked a little, shopped a little, and enjoyed ourselves a lot.

Filled with thermal pools, this is one of the city's pools available for use. (We didn't, since our hotel had one already)

From Bursa, we made our way to Istanbul. While waiting for the ferry to cross back into Europe, C-man spotted a McDonalds. He has been such a trooper with the food all week, we indulged him.

We finally made our way back to Istanbul. We checked into the hotel, and said goodbye to our guide. C-man was very sad about leaving him behind, but it was time.

So after checking in, we headed to Istanbul's Grand Bazaar.

This is the Grand Bazaar from Skyfall, so C-man was on the lookout for James Bond around each corner.

Until we found the soccer jerseys he had been hoping to get. Istanbul has two teams, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce. He bought one of each. During lunch, he went into the bathroom to change into his Fenerbahce jersey. And oh boy, did our experience turn into a hilarious one after that!

Everywhere we walked (and there are a LOT of shops), he got cheers and high fives and people singing the Fenerbahce songs. People were banging on windows from their shops and giving him thumbs up. People were coming out of their shops to tell him he was a smart boy. And he absolutely loved it. A few told him he needed to learn new colors, but even that was awesome.

So many colors and shops. It was definitely a tourist trap, and the original Spice Bazaar we went to was better for purchases, but it was still absolutely amazing.

Haggle in a Turkish Bazaar - check!

After we had our fill, we took a walk through the streets to see a bit of Istanbul, have another Turkish ice cream, and enjoy the rest of our day.

 

We're absolutely exhausted, and I am getting a little sick, so know it's time to go home. But even C-man has declared this has been a fantastic time and he wishes we could stay forever. I feel so incredibly great about what we've introduced him to these past two weeks. It's opened up his world in so many ways. Maybe even too much, since he's already planning our trip to Spain next year.

Next stop, Milwaukee. (After Zurich and Chicago, of course.)