Vacations in Turkey (I) : Istanbul

Back in Jo'burg and to the blog, after vacations in Turkey. Great vacations.
It would be difficult to put all photos, and tell all the things we did during these vacations, so I will make here a super-summarized summary ! Let's say, a post with a few picture for each main step of the trip.

Arrival in Turkey
I arrived at Istanbul International Airport from Jo'burg on June 22nd, very early in the morning (6:30am local time) after a quite short night. Laura and her colleagues were already there since the 19th, I think. Because, yes, I was in vacations, but they were at a conference in Istanbul ;-) 

June 22nd - June 25th
The first days were the conference for the EPFL folks, and for me were the occasion to visit again Istanbul. Of course, Laura could escape the conference from time to time and spend some time with me in the city, and Ceren guided me also a little. I also did some tourism with David, who was not bound by the conference !
A few photos from Istanbul. We visited the classic places in the historical center ...

Sultanhamet (the Blue Mosque)

... and also a small boat tour in the Bosphorus.

Some weird things you meet on a boat.

The Bosphorus Bridge at night.

The last day in Istanbul (Friday) was the last day of the conference, when Evren received an award, and the tourists could play with the cool stuff ...

Seen like this, not sure it is a dentist simulator or a ... fly simulator !

The LSRO1 people at the conference site - note Evren with the good-luck shirt !

Then, after the conference, the vacations could begin ! The next morning (Saturday 25th) we left on a boat towards the south, with one rented car and Ali's sister's car.

On the boat. Don't they look more relaxed ?

View of Istanbul from the boat on Marmara Sea. In particular, Aya Sofia and Sultanhamet are visible.

Here is a map of the trip. Until Efes/Sirince, we were the 8 of us, and then Laura and I continued alone - by bus, I'll come back to that !

More in next post : Bursa !