Istanbul, Turkey

We started the day off on the roof again for breakfast before heading up the road and around the corner to the Aya Sofia.  The Christian Church was built in 537AD and was considered the greatest church in Christendom until Constantinople conquered the city in 1453.  He converted it to a mosque and in 1935 it was proclaimed a museum by Ataturk.  This place is huge.  The design of the dome may have been ahead of its time as it has been in continual repair since 1992.  Christian mosaics still exist, but are blended in with Islamic scriptures and Imperial Fugra (signatures).  A beautiful temple that would have been incredible in its day. 

Aya Sofia, Istanbul, Turkey

Me, Aya Sofia, Istanbul Turkey

Once you exit the Aya Sofia, you walk through a park to arrive at the Blue Mosque.  This is a 17th century mosque built where a palace used to stand.  As you enter the mosque you must remove your shoes and be properly attired (i.e., well covered).  Inside is, once again, amazing.  The Blue Mosque gets its name from the tile (Iznik), which line the walls.  But for mind, the massive iron chandelier that hangs from the ceiling and stops about 2 meters above the ground is breathtaking.  I also felt peaceful and serene inside the building.  Tourists were well behaved and there were a few locals praying towards Mecca.  Also the entire floor was covered with a beautiful, plush carpet.

Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

Just beside the mosque is a market whose rents pay for the upkeep of the main building.  Within this market is the Great Palace Mosaics Museum.  This museum contains fragments of mosaics found by archeologists in the 1950s.  The mosaics came from Byzantine Palace, which originally stood where the Blue Mosque is today.  It was believed that the mosaics date back as far as 500AD.

 

After having this museum to ourselves we went to the western side of the Blue Mosque to the Hippodrome.  This area was used by the Byzantines and Ottoman rulers for palatial and recreational purposes.  Today there are monuments that sit in the middle of the park.  One is of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Fountain – a gift from a German Emperor in 1901.  Then, moving south is the 3500 year old Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius, named after the Byzantine Emperor who bought it to Constantinople in 390AD.  There is another column and obelisk which are unknown quantities.

 

From here we walked up to Divan Yolu and up to the Grand Bazaar.  This is a huge market – mainly undercover – and a maze of carpet shops, jewelers and Turkish knick-knacks.  We spent some time wandering through here and sheltering from the heat.  On our way back we picked up some pastries and goodies – some of which we ate at the nearby Palace of Antiochus Ruins.

We had an afternoon siesta and spent the evening on the roof taking photos of both the lit up Aya Sofia and Blue Mosque.

Blue Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey

Aya Sofia, Istanbul Turkey