Yesterday was the anniversary of Turkey becoming a republic. Now I’m sure all of you have gathered a sense of this, but Turkish pride is pretty exceptional. For those of you coming to visit here in the future, I dare you, DARE YOU to be able to find any spot in an urban portion of this country where you can travel within in a 100ft radius (about 30 meters, yes I’m American and am pretty horrible at adjusting to being like the rest of the world) and not run into either a portrait of Atatürk or a Turkish flag. If you can manage to do this feat, I’ll be damn impressed.

Anyway, yesterday was a Turkish equivalent of the 4th of July in the U.S., and boy oh boy did we get told!

Take that rest of the world, Turkey just kicked your ass with the most amazing fireworks display I have ever seen. Ever.

October 29th is Republic Day, the day that Turkey officially became a republic and is taken about as seriously as I’ve ever seen a holiday taken.  The entire city is draped in skyscraper sized flags, and the Bosporus lights up with the largest fireworks show I’ve ever seen.  The banks of the straight were lined with people watching, but we got to just head up to the room.  Just an amazing way to end our time here.