Merhaba

Today we are off to visit the major sites here in Istanbul, the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia, and Dolmabahce Palace.

We started off with the Blue Mosque, actually named the Sultan Ahmed Mosque for the Sultan who built it in 1609. It is a behemoth of a building running the length of a couple city blocks. You enter into a courtyard surrounded by high vaulted domes and a colonnade around all sides. Tourists enter to the right of the Mosque and they have a very well organized method for entry to the Mosque. Everyone must remove their shoes, you are given a plastic bag to carry them in during your visit, women must cover their hair and legs and if you have forgotten to wear appropriate clothing Velcro skirts and scarves are available for the visit. Once you go through the whole preparation, you finally enter the Mosque itself.

It is a beautiful building, with a similar structure to medieval cathedrals (however no tiny chapels off to the sides), but emphasizing the large open spaces to allow for the most room for prayer. Unlike Morocco, the tile work here is not mosaic but is all hand painted tile, apparently over 20,000 of them, most of them in some shade of blue – hence the common name of the mosque.

Ulises and I wandered around for an while, gazing at the stain glasswork and tiles, and the impossibly high ceilings. Since this is the first Mosque I’ve ever been in, I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it’s pretty cool.

After visiting the mosque we walk across the gardens and promenade towards Aya Sofia. Aya Sofia (Hagia Sofia – The Church of Holy Wisdom) is an amazing building, built in 537AD and in nearly the same form that can be seen now. It was the largest Christian church for over 1,000 years, and has the largest single dome that I’ve ever seen in a cathedral. The building was constructed on the site of two earlier churches, the first constructed by Constantine in 300ish BC, it was used as a church until the late 1400’s when it was converted to a Mosque and minarets added to the structure.

The building is impressive from the outside, but it is the inside that truly takes your breath away. It has all of the majesty of a cathedral, with all of the pomp of marble and ornate carvings, however all of the figures have been painted over or replaced with decorative designs. When the church was converted to a mosque, the Byzantine frescos of Biblical scenes and figures were all covered up – so what exists today is an odd mish mash of restored Christian art and Islamic art. It is odd…just check out some of these photos.

After Aya Sofia we decided to grab a quick bite and head over to the Dolmabahce Palace on the other side of town. This is the Palace that the Ottoman Empire was run from and where the Sultans moved to after they shut down their old residence in the 1840s. We visited the Harem section – which is where the Sultan and his wives and children lived. It was very contemporary with Europe – combining a mixture of every architectural style prevalent from 1400 on…and the most interesting room in the Palace is the sitting room and the deathbed of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, – who held an office here until his death in 1938. Somehow compared with the history and stunningly unique beauty of the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia, the palace just comes up short.

Tomorrow we are going to the Old Sultan’s Palace.