Istanbul with Kids: Street Finds

Our favorite part of Istanbul was the stuff we just stumbled on in the streets.

Riot police prepared for action

We accidentally stumbled upon a political protest march (especially interesting to us since part of David's conference was cancelled over fear of protests). This was a young, cheery crowd carrying signs complaining of Internet censorship by the government. At one point, protesters started swing dancing with a sidewalk jazz band.

Restaurant with three goats' heads. How could we not eat here? It was actually very good.

City Walls. 

 The precipitousness of the "steps" should have warned us--sheer, terrifying drops everywhere off these remnants of the city walls. But the views were staggering.

Fat mannequins. Our hotel was in the garment district. I have never before seen so many clothing shops in such a small space. And some of them used fat mannequins! We even discovered a mannequin store where they sell them!

Tiled houses. In the neighborhoods outside of the city center, many of the houses are covered outside with tiles like you would find in a kitchen or bathroom.

Street Food. Turkish ice cream. Sesame breadsticks (my favorite). Freshly-squeezed juice. And lollipops. As you watched, the lollipop would create a richly fruit-flavored lollipop just for you.

A creepy chess set--Western political leaders versus Al Qaeda.