 What a dream it was to find ourselves in Istanbul, a city we’d wanted to visit for years. Thanks to being invited for a house sit in southwestern Turkey, we now found ourselves with the opportunity to experience this jewel for a couple days. We arrived in the evening and checked into the friendly and affordable Azre Hotel in the trendy Beyoglu district. Excited to be there, we threw our stuff in our room and ventured out onto the streets in the dark. Just a few minutes' walk took us to the famous İstiklal street. People-watching (a favorite pastime) was top-notch here since this street is some kind of Mecca of Hip. We also drooled at the street stands full of roasted chestnuts. And the plethora of juice/smoothie stands were much appreciated too. We even got a free promo CD by a local DJ workin’ the VitaMix. We wandered up and down the street until we were sleepy, then headed home to nod off for the night.  Istiklal Street, Hub of Cool (free image download because we somehow didn't get a shot of this street!) We woke up the next morning ready to explore. With only two days to cover a lot of ground, we had to get busy. We decided to devote the mornings to our tried & true Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour, and the afternoons to a dérive (wandering around aimlessly).  About to cross the Bosphorous One highlight of the bus ride was crossing the Bosphorus river, which separates Europe and Asia. Half of Istanbul is actually in Asia while the other half is in Europe! The exact moments we crossed from Europe into Asia and back were announced in the audio commentary, allowing us to seize the photo opp. [One year later, during the military coup d'état attempt on 15 July 2016, the bridge was symbolically taken over by a group of soldiers.]  Dolmabahce Palace We hopped off the bus at the Dolmabahce Palace to get a glimpse of the largest palace in Turkey (its construction cost about $1.3 billion in today’s USD), which sparks fantasies of 1001 Nights thanks to its huge attached harem. In reality, we hopped off the bus here off on Day 1 to find it inconveneintly closed (some of our readers might be noticing a theme here), so we circled back around to it on Day 2.
Istanbul has a huge array of magnificent mosques (around 3,000 in total), which dominate the city's skyline. We got to view the inside of several mosques, including Sultanahment Mosque (also called the Blue Mosque). But of course, the most famous one, Hagia Sofia – which was first a Greek Orthodox church and later an Ottoman mosque and is now a museum – was closed both times we tried to go.  Hagia Sophia Sultanahment Mosque and Hagia Sophia are connected by Sultanahmet Square, providing a quite photogenic scene:  Sultanahmet Square The insides of the mosques that we got to see were consistently beautiful, with impressively intricate artwork, prayerful music, and reverent moods. Slideshow: Inside MosquesIn the late afternoons we strolled through the winding alleyways spread out around the neighborhoods near our guesthouse. These narrow streets were packed full of various shops and, quite importantly for us, piles of glorious fresh fruit for sale. The lively alleys made us entertain the idea of spending a longer time in Istanbul, so captivated were we by their charm.  One of many colorful shops One impactful event on our city tour was our visit to Galata Tower, a medieval stone tower built in 1348, which yielded stunning vistas of the city and the Bosphorous river: Slideshow: Views from Galata Tower Torsten outside Süleymaniye Hamam Our visit to this impressive city would not be complete without a visit to a Hamam or Turkish bathhouse. We are both big spa and sauna fans, so naturally we were excited to be in such a hub of hanmam-related experience. There seemed to be numerous high-end options for people having an upscale tourist experience… These didn’t quite fit our budget. But we managed to find one midrange option that still looked pretty glamorously awesome: Süleymaniye Hamam, offering “couples packages” including scrub-downs and massage. The hamam is actually part of the complex of the 16th-century Süleymaniye Mosque, the second-largest mosque in Istanbul and one of its best-known sights, so we crossed the street to see the mosque first. As usual our timing was off and we didn't get to go inside (maybe something to work on...), but the outside was impressive in itself: Slideshow: Süleymaniye Mosque Back to the hamam: The establishment provided us with toga-like outfits and we were then ushered into the bath area, a very warm steamroom-esque room with the sinks to wash with and a huge flat (very) heated stone to lie on. We got pretty hot pretty fast, which I guess means that our muscles were getting relaxed for what was soon to come. When our turn arose, we were whisked away into the treatment room and each assigned someone for the scrub & rub.
Let’s just say that thanks to the warm-up room being more like an extremely-hot-up room and the “scrub down” and “massage” being more like a meat-tenderizer followed by a washing machine spin cycle, Danielle almost fainted. But fortunately, post-massage we were ushered into a delightful tea room and served fresh orange juice before that had a chance to occur! Enamored by our whirlwind tour, we gathered our belongings and set out for our flight to Bodrum for the next leg of our house sitting journey. Stay tuned...
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 Scanning the house sitting sites for new options, we stopped in our tracks when we saw a listing in Ibiza for the winter holidays. Back in the late ‘90s when Danielle was immersed in the Seattle rave scene, the word “Ibiza” held special weight. She never went there, but it had a reputation as Party Central. Danielle had several Cafe del Mar musical compilations, named after an ultracool Ibiza seaside cafe, and we’d heard the beaches were gorgeous. Needless to say we applied, even though we aren’t your typical clubgoers. We were overjoyed to be chosen as month-long parental stand-ins for Otje, a dear Russian Blue cat who’d immigrated with her parents to Ibiza from the Netherlands.
On our first meeting she began immediately licking Danielle, and the owners felt confident that they could leave and that everything would be fine.
Besides having sweet and adorable company, we were blessed with an amazing view of the bay and Sant Antoni from the living room and out on the private balcony. Dawn and dusk were a treat.  Sunset view from our balcony  One day we made the trip into Sant Antoni. We heard that this town gets quite packed with tourists and part-time residents during the season. But this was December: It. Was. Deserted. What a strange feeling, like a ghost town, but it was fun to have the promenade almost to ourselves as we strolled along the seaside through the pretty town. We of course made the obligatory stop-off at Cafe del Mar, which was closed for the winter, just to say we’d been there. Speaking of ghost towns, Ibiza in the winter was a bit like a ghost island. The whole island was pretty empty. Even the saunas (which we love to frequent) were open in the summers only! Fortunately we found one attached to a local gym, since it was a bit chilly that time of year. The house sit went well, but at one point we needed to buy a household item. We were excited to see there was an Ikea. Ikea to the rescue, right? Little did we realize that this particular branch was about the size of your living room. Island life...  One reason besides the stunning scenery why people are drawn to Ibiza is its nightclub scene. Pacha is a very famous nightclub on the island, in Ibiza (or Eivissa) town proper. It’s rated third in a 2014 DJ Magazine poll of the world’s 100 best nightclubs. (#1 is also on Ibiza: Space.) We didn’t get a chance to go inside, since as usual when we go places, it was closed. But the outside was quite impressive. Due to its notoriety, its famous cherries logo could be found all over the island. We first noticed the logo displayed prominently in our host’s apartment, but then it was following us everywhere: on cars, on clothes, on billboards, in cafes... Every day or two we’d jump in the rental car (public transportation was not a viable option) and check out a new recommendation from TripAdvisor of someplace to see. We discovered some breathtaking vistas and walks that showed us why so many people move or spend part of the year there. Gallery: Our Cool WalksWe enjoyed our off-season stay on the Party Island. Stay tuned for more adventures!
 Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor (Church of the Sacred Heart)  One of our favorite (and often-passed) intersections. After Rasquera, we had the chance to see Barcelona en route to our next house sit. To this end, we utilized a great tool to maximize our tourist efficiency: the hop-on hop-off bus tour! This is a very clever concept. You get to ride the whole day, and the route provides a great overview of the city, stopping at major tourist destinations and popular neighborhoods.  Up top with great air & views The ticket allows you to get off and on as many times as you want. So you can see the sights from the bus as long as you'd like, and when a stop interests you, you disembark and go check it out. Then you return to the same bus stop and a new bus magically appears in 0–20 minutes. Occasionally the main attractions are not visible from the bus anyhow, so if you're feeling a bit lazy but really want to check something off the list (yes we've been there), sometimes ya just gotta get off the bus! We've used this service in several places now, and while we first thought it would be super cheesy, we are now total converts. They even give you headphones and a selection of various language for the guided audio tour (including culturally specific Muzak during the down time). Of course the tour doesn't replace the authentic feel you get from wandering the streets of a town on foot for hours, but it definitely serves a purpose. One fascinating area of Barcelona was the Gothic quarter (Barri Gòtic in Catalan). This district is the center of the old city of Barcelona, with many of the buildings dating back to Medieval times, some even back to the Roman settlement of Barcelona. We walked around this area for a while, mesmerized—especially by this huge Gothic church:  Magnificent Gothic church [Obligatory mention: Barcelona is very famous for its Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi and his many ornate buildings and churches. His Sagrada Familia is an elaborate church and UNESCO World Heritage Site that draws loads of attention. Gaudi worked on it from 1883 until his death in 1926, leaving it less than one-quarter complete—the expected completion date is 2026. For some reason we lost a batch of photos, including our shots of the Sagrada Familia, but you can see some great shots of it here.] Danielle being a gardening junkie, imagine her happy surprise to find that many of the street vendors on a busy shopping avenue were seed sellers. How cool is that?!
Here is the street where we stayed in an AirBnB room. AirBnB is a great option for saving money compared to a hotel room, and for staying with a local and getting a better feel for regular life in a place.  Carrer Martínez de la Rosa You can barely see the corner of a Catalonia flag (upper left). These flags were all over the place, this being Catalonia. We learned some of the history and politics re Catalonia while we were here. Many Catalonians are separatists who wish to be their own state apart from Spain. The language is different from Spanish though similar. I was caught by surprise, thinking my Spanish would be enough to get me by in Spain (at least, enough to get me to the train station exit)! Fortunately the people who identify as Catalonian also understand Spanish. A highlight to our visit was this viewpoint overlooking the city and surrounding area. Whenever we go to a new city we like to find one of the best viewpoints to take in the big picture (and to get some cool pictures).  Thanks for following along. Tune in next time to hear about our Ibiza house sit!
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AuthorsTorsten & Danielle Loesch, a German-American yogi couple who are traveling the world house sitting. Archives
February 2015
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