Touring Istanbul

There is a lot to see in Istanbul and a large area to cover, but the day after we arrived Marissa and I braved the rain and headed a few streets over from our hostel to the Blue Mosque. Stunningly beautiful from the outside, the Blue Mosque is equally as breathtaking from the inside. It was built in the early 17^th century and its called the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles on the walls inside. It is still a functioning public mosque, and tourists can only enter through a separate entrance between prayer times.

Tourists also have to dress appropriately, which for women means loose pants or a skirt and a shirt that covers your shoulders and arms fully. They also require you to put a scarf over your head, out of respect. Marissa only had to put on a sweater and scarf, but apparently my t-shirt and leggings were not appropriate, and I had to put fabric over my legs, a sweater, and a scarf. A good note- though leggings cover you, they are not a good thing to wear in the Middle East as they are a little too form-fitting it seems.

Inside of the Blue Mosque the best thing to do is look up-there is beautiful Arabic calligraphy all over the ceiling. Also, the light coming in from the stained-glass windows brings all kinds of amazing colors into the mosque. I have always been a fan of Islamic architecture, and the Blue Mosque offers exceptional highlights of it. We had to just stop and look around for a few minutes, it requires a little time for your eyes to be able to take it all in!

After the Blue Mosque we headed next door to the Aya Sofia, or Hagia Sofia. There is some debate about which is nicer, but our vote was the outside of the Blue Mosque is best, but the inside of the Aya Sofia is truly unique. It was once a church, then transformed into a mosque, and now stands as a museum. Here it was amazing to see the mix of Muslim and Christian influences, as in the front of the building there is tiling of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, but below sits the minbar (or pulpit in a mosque) and mihrab (indicates direction of prayer, to Mecca), mixed with other essential parts of the mosque as well. The six huge circles in gold and black, each with a holy name in Islam, stand out among anything else though. They are what captured my attention as they are so beautiful, and I think became my favorite part.

In the afternoon we decided to venture to the Grand Bazaar only to have a look around, although not buying anything is pretty difficult among the hundreds of stands selling neat souvenirs. After a while it all seems to look the same, and we eventually left with only a few things, and decided it was better to spend our money on some delicious Turkish pastries.

Me in front of the Blue Mosque

Inside of the Aya Sofia- on the top is the mosaic of the Virgin and on each side sits a holy name in Islam: Allah (God) on the right, and Mohammed (the Prophet) on the left.