A Family Trip to Turkey: When Virtual Field Trips Become Real

“You must have really loved Turkey to be going there on a family vacation,” friends said to me online and off as they learned of our summer plans.

Honestly, Turkey is always a place that I’ve wanted to return to since having first visited with my parents in high school and while I was lucky to have visited Istanbul, Konya, and Capadoccia in May with Turkish Airlines, I knew that my six days in the country barely scratched the surface of an incredibly diverse country. I also knew it was a place that I had to share with my husband and kids.

So by redeeming precious miles that Jim and I have accumulated through work trips, we flew the family to Turkey for an unbelievable two week adventure that spanned two continents, multiple cities, and brought history, geography, science, and so many other subjects to life for the kids in ways they couldn’t even imagine.

I’ve loved sharing our travels through Instagram, sharing snippets of our adventures intermingled with tidbits of history, inspiring some of you to consider Turkey as a travel destination. I am not a travel blogger but have so much more to share in hopes that you will come, especially with your family.

 

The hauntingly beautiful Basilica Cistern lies underneath the street near Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. It was built by Emperor Justinian in 532 and has 336 marble and granite columns and is an amazing architectual sight to see! #NX500 #Imagelogger #DitchtheDSLR #history #historylesson

A photo posted by Leticia Barr (@techsavvymama) on Aug 10, 2015 at 11:53am PDT

 

Our first night sailing we stopped at St. Nicholas Island, built in the 6-7th century and rumored to be a place where Santa Claus lived. The tiny island also had 4 churches and I loved this cross created out of negative space in the rock.

A photo posted by Leticia Barr (@techsavvymama) on Aug 15, 2015 at 11:16am PDT

  We may have said our farewells to Turkey for the time being but I look forward to continuing my Virtual Field Trip Friday series to share more of the country with you, including the practical information you need about traveling to Turkey with your family.

 

This morning we had to say goodbye to the southern coast of Turkey and the Mediterranean for a quick stop back in Istanbul before heading to Rome tomorrow. We’ll miss these waters and glorious sunrises but the kids already want to go back. I can’t say I blame them! #NX500 #Imagelogger #DitchtheDSLR #Turkey #LoveFromTurkey A photo posted by Leticia Barr (@techsavvymama) on Aug 18, 2015 at 5:25am PDT

In the meantime, enjoy this Istanbul eye candy through Istanbul in Instagram Pictures video by Turkish Airlines and I promise to have more practical information to share soon that will help you plan your trip.

This trip was personally paid for although Turkish Airlines did provide the original inspiration for our family travels by inviting me to join their #LoveFromTurkey #WidenYourWorld trip as part of their U.S.  Travel Bloggers Summit. All opinions are my own and based on those of my family.