Snow

This might come as a surprise to some, but there has been a lot of snow in Istanbul lately. In fact, yesterday was almost like a blizzard. I think most people have this idea that Istanbul is in the middle of the desert and that it would never be cold here. But actually, it is on approximately the same latitude as New York, so I guess it makes sense that we would get snow here.

So first, take a look at this picture of the Bosporus that I took on a relatively nice day (I only have to walk about 5 minutes away from my dorm to see this view):


And now here is a picture of a slightly different part of the river that I took today:


One popular district in Istanbul is called Taksim. There are lots of shops, restaurants, and bars there, and overall, it's a great hang-out spot for the weekends. So here are some pictures of Taksim that I took during relatively nice weather:


And here are some pictures that I took last night:

At some points last night, the snow was blowing sideways. This weather definitely makes me want to stay inside, which is a shame because there is so much that I still have to see in Istanbul. The bright side is that the weather should get much better in a couple of weeks!