After leaving Philadelphia at 7pm (EST) on Friday, leaving Chicago at 10pm (CST), and arriving in Istanbul at 5pm (EST +7h or 10am EST) on Saturday after a 12 hour flight, we proceeded to have a perfect first night out, a great night’s sleep, and a wonderfully packed walking tour/orientation to Istanbul.  Since our first full day was a Sunday, Alexander and Meredith were able to show us around and give us our bearings before we would set out the next few days on our own (while they went to work.) 

These photos document our first 36 hours discovering Istanbul.