We're pretty lucky to be living close to the largest pumpkin festival in the world here in Germany. Only about an hour and a half away in Ludwigsburg. It's a perfect place for a fall visit if you've started lighting your vanilla pumpkin candles and are sipping on your favorite pumpkin spice beverage (and maybe eating a pumpkin scone...or two?). I'm so happy we got to go to the festival! This year it was a woodland theme, and we were ready to explore all things pumpkin.
Pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin yippie!
~Seriously, how cute is MY little pumpkin~
We started off with a snack...because we're Hatch's and we love food! A pumpkin roll with pumpkin seed brats. Yum for the win!
Over 450,000 pumpkins on display; so if you've imagined them, they have them: smooth, pimpled, skinny, chubby, edible and decorative!
Hold up, I love this warty Cinderella pumpkin
They had some of the fattest pumpkins I've ever seen! This one was roughly 926 pounds! I remember as a kid a contest at our local grocery store where if you could guess the weight of the pumpkin you could have it...I wouldn't know what to do with this one! What does anyone do with it?!? Pumpkin soup for a lifetime if you ask me.
This may be the most legit pumpkin patch I've laid my eyes on!
Bode had a blast climbing in!
Jordan snapped a great picture of me if I may say so myself!
We tried some really good organic pumpkin ice cream. It was nice and creamy with pumpkin seeds inside too. We both liked it!
I love this feeling of fall
They had quite a display of woodland pumpkin animals all around the fest
There are also events going on every weekend (so check the calendar of things you don't want to miss) like: giant pumpkin carving, pumpkin weigh-offs, pumpkin regatta, smashing pumpkins etc. Here were some of our favorites from the pumpkin carving.
How can you go to a festival and fully enjoy it if you can't taste your way through it with some of your favorite pumpkin dishes? Pumpkin strudel, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin burgers, pumpkin everything! And yesssss, pumpkin soup! As I write this I am currently chowing down on chocolate toasted pumpkin seeds that I bought at the fest... Anyways back to festival food, to taste it means to fill your tummy with goodness.
Pumpkin Beef Ravioli
Pumpkin Kasespatzel (which is like a pumpkin Mac n cheese) So good!
We had a great rest of the afternoon walking around the Grimm's Fairytale land before heading into the Black Forest. We saw little Red Riding Hood's house, Repunzels hair, and the Seven dwarves!
Hello look at this hair!
We headed to the town of Triberg famous for waterfalls, clocks and cakes. We strapped Bode into a hiking backpack and started off with a hike!
The Triberger Wasserfalle is one of the highest in Germany, plunging water down from 163 meters. This may be the "longest" waterfall in reality because it isn't as high as the waterfalls in the mountains. Nevertheless, it is still very scenic and worth exploring. You can hike all the way up and make a loop, walking back down into the cute little town.
The hike is not challenging and can be done with young kids, older friends and family members, dogs and strollers, although I don't think I would take a stroller.
We checked out the clocks and had some cake. The House of 1000 clocks is WILD! My head was going bonkers when I got out of there from all the cuckoo-cuckoo clocks ticking away. They are detailed in their artistry and can be very expensive. Cool to look at, but getting a clock magnet was all we needed to satisfy our clock craving. For Black Forest Cake check out Cafe Schaefer. The cake is good...well if you like Black Forest Cake; moist and fluffy it is, but too much kirschwasser for our liking.
After a good nights rest we made it to one more town before heading back home. The cute little Black Forest town of Schiltach was where we ended up, and they were having a town festival which was super fun. I think we were the only Americans there... definitely the only English speaking people.
A charming town with two ridiculously good lookin guys
We couldn't find Bode's mittens, and I'll never admit that I forgot them **cough cough** so we did make-shift mittens out of socks, which worked pretty well!
I'm not entirely sure what these are called, but these ladies were making dough balls (very similar to a garlic knot minus the garlic) stuffed with bacon and cheese... We waited in a line that was well worth it for them to come out of the firewood oven piping hot!
We walked the main street looking at all the vendors selling local goods.
What really caught our eye were the people making fresh pressed apple juice. Take a look at all the apple rinds!
Couldn't say no to a nice fresh glass. And Bode LoVeD it!!
His first time trying juice...sweet sweet nectar
If you're interested in the whole process check it out!
With all the people enjoying the food we tried their local sausages. They were good! The sausage men kept trying to talk to me in German, to which I responded with a lot of head shaking :)
We finished off our trip with some delicious fluffy cake! We had such a great time in the Black Forest. We felt like we were in traditional towns and enjoyed ever minute of the sunshine and cool air!
We had the lucky opportunity to visit Istanbul, and I am so glad we did. The first time we were going to visit I was a bit hesitant due to the state of affairs in the Middle East, but this time I swallowed my fears and what a good thing I did-because I never felt more safe and more impressed with a city. After watching the Anthony Bordane Parts Unknown about Istanbul it was set into stone, we had to go! Read about our trip, and make sure your passport isn't expired, because I guarantee you'll want to visit here too!
We are very lucky to get to travel as a bigger Hatch Batch than the three of us; grandma and grandpa Hatch are ALWAYS down for a fun adventure, so when we spoke about going to Istanbul together they were game. Istanbul is the Constantinople of the ancient world. It is part real, and part surreal; a blend of bygone and the modern. I think it's safe to say it was one of our favorite cities to visit because there are none else like it. We stayed at Hotel Neorion, which was the perfect hotel for us, and in a GREAT location! Not only did our stay include breakfast, but they had a complimentary afternoon snack time that we enjoyed as well.
The location of the hotel was really great because we were in the heart of the Old Town-and there is so much to explore!
There are so many palaces and mosques here! We really enjoyed spending the morning on a tour of the Topkapi Palace. Bode loved to explore on the grounds.
The Topkapi Palace has served many purposes: with offices, military barracks, a council chamber and a reception hall it also became the sultan's residence when Suleyman the Magnificent turned it into a home. Topkapi efficiently served as the sole administrative palace for Ottoman sultans for more than 400 years and was enlarged over centuries. Unlike European palaces, which were build all at once, Topkapi Palace was constructed gradually and organically over time-the result: a lot of different architectural styles.
The inside of the rooms were really cool!
I love the tile
This room was called the Divan. It was where the council chamber of ministers got together to discuss state affairs.
It was interesting seeing the Haram. This was where the wives, favorites, and concubines of the sultans lived. It was a carefully administered social institution that ensured longevity of the Ottoman Empire, there was a definite hierarchy of the women and the boss at the top was the Sultan's mother!
This little boy loved crawling around in the Courtyard of the Black Eunuchs. If you are wondering who the Black Eunuchs were, they were slaves from North Africa, Egypt and Sudan who were trained to serve in the Harem-to protect the women and take care of Harem administration.
He's apart of the architecture
We went inside the Sultan's private apartments. We were impressed by the imperial hall, used as a reception for special occasions.
No more photos please mom!
This is really a beautiful location-overlooking the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus, and the Golden Horn. Perfect for some photo ops!
After touring the Palace we made it to the Blue Mosque before prayer. Bode enjoyed some time out in the sunshine before we went in.
The Blue Mosque is one of the worlds most famous mosques, it has a rich blue color of the handmade ceramic tiles that dominate the interior.
Bode wanted to go into the outer courtyard first to wash up at the taps used for ablution. Both men and women have their own cleaning areas where they wash their bodies before worship and it is a ritual to this day that is followed by Islamic law.
Women are expected to cover up before entering the mosque, so that's just what we did.
Getting loves while waiting in line to go inside
Bode made lots of friends in line, it's hard not to smile back at this little man
Can we go in already?!?!
Ta-da!
Bode doing what he does best...reading... This time the Quran
When in the Blue Mosque, do what the Turkish do... Pray! This was so funny Bode got down and literally looked like he was praying Islamic style. He had a crowd watching him, so cute!~
Making friends wherever we go
Our next stop was the Hagia Sophia. It's been called the greatest house of worship in both the Christian and Muslim worlds. It is also known as The Great Church of Constantinople (similar to the Vatican in Rome) and was built in the Byzantine empire in A.D. 537.
Bode sure liked being thrown up in front of it!
Wondering if grandma will throw him up too...
always getting loving kisses
When you enter onto the grounds the first thing you see is the fountain. The Ottomans added this in the mid-18th century. When Hagia Sophia was a mosque it was used for ablution cleansing before prayer.
The immense baptismal pool in the baptistery is made out of a MASSIVE piece of marble, and amazingly it is still in one piece despite spending centuries buried amongst construction debris in the courtyard. It is more than 10 feet long and 4 feet deep!
Bode wanted into the fount
Hey cutie
Before walking into the museum we passed through the Vestibule of Guards. The entry is named for the Imperial guards who waited here while the emperor was attending church services. The emperors used this entryway because of its proximity to the royal palace.
Replete with shimmering mosaics and fine marble The Hagia Sophia was the single greatest architectural achievement of the Byzantine empire. Speeding through 900 years of history, when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople the Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque. From the church standpoint you can see paintings of biblical figures and saints, and from the mosque standpoint you'll see ornately written names of leading Muslim figures.
All of the christian mosaics were whitewashed and plastered when it became a mosque, and they are starting to take down stucco to reveal the amazing work underneath. These will blow you away! This area was originally used for the church council meetings. The mosaic dates back to the 13th and 14th century, and its theme-the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist asking Jesus for the salvation of souls, which is common in Eastern Orthodox churches. The workmanship is fascinating, especially the expression and detail in the faces!
Bode enjoying a ride up on grandpas shoulders, holding onto his hair for stability
I found a beautiful view out of a peep window, if only you could hear all the noises and calls to prayer going on.
There was no way to end a better first day than with some great Turkish food. We had dinner at Saltanat Barbecue House. It was walking distance from our hotel, and if you want good Turkish fare, this is the place! The quality was great, the food plenty, and the service helpful.
We enjoyed a feast family style and left with our tummies full!
One of the really fun things that we did after dinner was to send the boys for haircuts. There was a little barber shop that was LITERALLY a hole in the wall that was around the corner from the restaurant. This was the best $5.00 ever spent, and these men looked sharp after.
Turkish barbers are the real deal, they even zap out your ear hair with a flame!
But definitely not too full for some baklava from Hafiz Mustafa. We tried lots of different pistachio and chocolate flavors (they even have samples).
Needless to say, we slept good that night!
The next day we were ready to go. We really wanted to experience some non-touristy things in Istanbul so we were all in on the Hamam experience. We took turns as couples going to the bath house and we highly recommend the Suleymaniye Hamami. It was the bath house of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1557, and there is a private lodge you can go into where the Magnificent would get washed himself.
The Turkish bath houses, or hamamlar, evolved from ancient Roman tradition and were established across the Ottoman Empire as places for religious ritual cleansing as well as socialization.
Usually the hamams are single sex, this is the only hamam couples can go to and enjoy together. The process went a little like this: warmed up in the sauna, had our skin scrubbed off (literally), rinsed off, buried in foam bubbles, a quick shampoo and some tea. These two look like they had a great time!
We walked through the Spice Market-loaded with merchants dealing in spices, herbs, medicinal plants and pharmaceuticals. It was very colorful with the ambience of a true Oriental market. There are stalls selling everything from natural sponges to dried fruits vegetables and nuts.
I love the dried fruit!
One important thing about finding people you love to travel with is food flexibility. When you see something good, you gotta try it-diets go out the window! I love that we all have a passion for food. We found some good looking street fare, not sure what it is, but it was good and worth the try.
We went to the Grand Bizzare to look at all the little knickknacks and souvenirs that were being bartered; fake purses, Turkish towels, gypsy outfits, and glittering jewelry.
We stopped on the bustling streets for a Kebab after shopping. Bode was giving all the cute looks and mastering the side eye. Bode was a huge hit with all the locals loving his blond hair and big smile!
Ohh a soda!
They gave Bode some French fries and he was a fan!
He's thinking "no grandpa, I cannot share my French fries"
We went to check out the underground cistern. This huge underground reservoir was build on a site of an earlier basilica, and so it's often called the "Basilica Cistern". The reservoir was built to meet the needs of a fast-growing city and covers an area about the size of two football fields-big enough to hold 27 million gallons of fresh water. We spotted the two Medusa heads squeezed under 2 of the 336 pillars.
In the afternoon we crossed into the new town and walked Iskital Street where modern stores were. The highlight of going into the new town was the Baklava at Karakoy Gulluoglu. They had more Baklava than you could ever imagine, and they were PACKED!
Nothing like some good Baklava from the first Baklava shop in Istanbul!
We found the lookout tower, and wanted to go up, but the line was way long so we just admired its beauty from a distance:)
Back across the Bosphorus for dinner
We enjoyed dinner at Buhara Ocakbasi. The highlight we would all say was the amazing pita bread and hummus-we kept that coming throughout the meal!
On our last day we went to the mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent. We first started by seeing his tomb.
It almost outdoes the Blue Mosque in its size, architecture and design. The mosque has four minarets. Mosques financed by sultans often had more than one minaret, to show off the sultan's wealth. Here, the extra minarets symbolize the religious and social leaders who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad.
The number of domes are amazing!
The old marble fountain in the middle of the courtyard was used for ablution.
The inside of the mosque was very tranquil, the inside beautiful, but these two are even better looking.
The beautiful Bosphorus
Bode had a great time making new friends...
...but it was soon time to get strapped in and back to the hotel to head to the airport.
We had an AMAZING time seeing the history of ancient Constantinople mixed with the history and modernity of Istanbul. It was one our of favorite cities for sure, hard to beat the combination of delicious food, amazing sites and great people to travel with! I am so glad we went, and hope we can return again one day!
