We had told the man collecting the bus fare where we were going and he was going to tell us which stop to get off at. So when he waved at us we hurried off the bus and had no clue where to go from there. We saw a sign for the Dolphinarium that pointed in no direction that we could actually walk and said it was 1 km away. So, not knowing what else to do we just started walking!
About 45 minutes later we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere and Benjamin and I (Julie) were getting cranky. No one we asked seemed to know where this place was! We had planned on making the 11am show, but as it was already almost 11 we gave up on that idea. We just asked Dad to give us patience and He ended up giving us some amazing gifts beyond what we expected for the day! Fun how that works, right?
We finally found signs of civilization (a gas station!!) and a very large, very beuatiful park with several playgrounds and walkways. We decided to take a break from our trek to let Benjamin run around and mom take a breather. Dad blessed us by watching Benjamin have so much fun and eventually gain independence and try the slide all by himself! Our hearts were so blessed to see him growing and exlporing. A few pictures from the park:
Pretty soon it was getting close to lunch time, so we decided to press on, knowing that this place was supposed to have a restaurant. We got back on the main road and almost immediately we found the parking entrance to the Istanbul Dolphinarium. Rejoice!! Thinking it couldn't be far, we stated off. Then, like a mirage in the desert, we saw it. And it was beautiful.
We ate a delicious lunch in a private dining room (there was NOBODY else in the restaurant and we literally had three guys waiting on us) overlooking the aquarium where we were able to watch the dolphins swimming. Benjamin was enamored and kept asking to see the Dolphins all during lunch. A few pictures from lunch:
The view from the dinning room
After we ate, and a short wait, we made it inside the aquarium for the show. Everything was in Turkish (except for the one time Keith took a picture and the host said in English no pictures please- oops!) so we had no idea exactly what was going on, but it was really neat to watch. Benjamin was so happy and all the long walk/frustration was completely worth it!
Praise Dad for His blessings to us and for a wonderful day!