Baklava, Dervish Dancers and Turkish Delight

Let's just say our flight landed at 1 AM and even after we drove to our hotel and got settled, there was enough action out on the street where we could sit down for a nice "dinner." The trip to Turkey, along with our Europe summer trip, was memorable.
Every morning, as we sat on the terrace of our hotel for breakfast, we had a great view of the entire city- including the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, and the rest of the city. I always love visiting places with tons of history- and Turkey was one of those places. With the museums, the ruins, and the culture- and don't forget the food!
The Grand Bazaar- with over 4000 shops inside, kept us occupied for hours: hopping from store to store, we searched for a Turkish rug and other souvenirs. With each welcome from the different shopkeepers, we were greeted with hot Persian tea and some very tasty Turkish delight. And even after the hundreds of stores, the food just got better.
Not only were our appetites filled with the scrumptious Turkish delight, but each evening, after we finished our large and filling dinner, we would stop by the Baklava bakery where they would serve us each a freshly made warm piece of Baklava. The honey was dripping from this phylo dough and Pistachio pastry, and I tried to fit it in my mouth in a single bite. It was absolutely delicious!
After a couple of days touring the city, we decided to take a trip to Ephesus via a small plane trip taking less than an hour. There we walked through ruins of columns and large amphitheatres used by the Greeks. We also visited the Temple of Artemis where we saw several Greek statues of the gods. I felt like I was living in history- surrounded by pillars thousands of years old.
After that, we went to Pamukkale, the calcium springs, where you are literally walking on Calcium deposits. And there were also hot springs where we got to swim in water with pieces of ancient pillars at the bottom- imagine sitting on a thousand year old column in the water. It was truly an experience

On the way back to the city, we stopped by a small pottery store- I actually got to make a peice of pottery (something like vase). It was pretty cool shaping the rotating clay into a bowl. And the painters on the side with their finely tipped brushes making intricate strokes.

On the last day, we stopped by the Baklava cafe to eat our last piece of honey filled pastries from Turkey. Even though we spent an entire week there, I didn't want to leave- it was one of those places that I could keep coming back to because the culture, food, and history kept me wanting more.