Our last day in Istanbul and Turkey started where we ended the day before. The barber told the girls he owned a women only shop where they could get their hair washed and styled. Thinking it was a good idea the girls did just that. But somehow they traveled back in time and ended all with 90′s hairdo!
That last day we visited the Grand Bazar to get souvenirs. And of course we got them. The haggling was fun, but it took a while to get the hang of it.

I made this as an experiment working all digital. The last couple of weeks I picked up some new tricks for Photoshop and I tried to use some of them. The sketching I all did in the free version of Sketchbook Express and the coloring in Photoshop. Had a great time doing this.
Our second day in Istanbul we visited the Blue Mosque (you haven’t been in Istanbul if you haven’t visited that). The train station you see in the movie is the European end station of the the Orient Express. After the Blue Mosque we went to Topkapi Palace, the old Sultans Palace. We only saw a tiny bit, we kinda had it with all the old buildings and we just chilled for a bit. In the afternoon we went for a boat ride on the Bosporus, the strait that forms the border between the European and the Asian part of Istanbul. For the boat we did some more sightseeing, some of the worlds prime properties are there.
That evening we visited a barbershop, where I got a nice shave and Hilco got a shave and a haircut. He was really pleased with it, but my sister hated it.
After a couple of hours on the road we arrived back in Istanbul, where our journey had started 10 days ago. It is a big ass city, with millions of people living there and even more working there. We visited the Hagia Sofia an ancient church turned mosque turned monument. The walls are all crooked and the dome isn’t exactly round, else it would collapse. Because of the way it is build it survived all those ages and even withstood earthquakes! It was the first time I wished I had a better camera, my iPhone 4 couldn’t really handle shooting indoor too well.
The food in the hotel we stayed was bad, so in the evening we wandered through the city to find something to eat. We found a nice little place where they had all kinds of pastries, even a Turkish version of arretjescake, a traditional Dutch treat. The staff was most friendly and we had a great time there.
Day 9 of our trip was another one with lots of time on the road. This time we road to Ankara, the capital of Turkey. On our way there we visited one of the biggest salt lakes in Turkey, but because of the bad weather the place just looked desolate. Ankara is a big modern city, with lots of students and ethnic minorities from all over Turkey. We visited the mausoleum of Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish Democracy. While we were there the president of Albania visited the tomb, as is custom for foreign heads of state to do when they visit the city. The mausoleum was impressive and it clearly shows how proud the Turkish people are of their country and their history. After that we visited the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, where they pay homage to the ancient history of the region. Too bad most of the museum was being renovated, so there wasn’t much to see.
As you might have noticed I haven’t updated a lot in a while. There is a lot of stuff going on at the moment, so I can’t make time to regularly update. Besides that I’m working on some larger projects and I don’t want to share things about them on the blog. On twitter I give some peeks now and then. You can follow me @vinbomer.
Some of the stuff coming up: I have a couple of comics in the makings. One of my goals for 2011 was to print a 24 page book with my comics, but as you might guess I aint gonna make that. Now the goal is to do that as soon as possible in 2012. In 2012 I will open an Etsy store where I will sell art in various forms. The plans include postcards, drawings and paintings. I’ll keep you all up to date.
Day 8 of our trip was a bit boring, especially after the exciting day before it. It was mainly sightseeing. Enjoy!
This day was one of the most exhausting but awesome days of the whole trip. We left our hotel at 5.15am for a hot air balloon trip over the Cappadocia region. The guide told us this is one of the three best spots in the world to fly in a hot air balloon and we have to believe him. It was awesome! If you ever get the chance, grab it with both hands and don’t let go
After the balloon trip we did a shitload of sightseeing in the region. Oh well, just check out the video:
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