Istanbul, not Constantinople: Day 2

Whew, long day.  Woke up feeling the jetlag a bit more this morning, especially after having been woken up by a loud bird outside the window and then by the Call to Prayer (Turkey is a majority Muslim country, and the Call to Prayer sounds 5 times per day all around the city, including before dawn).

We started the day by ferrying over to the European side (GUYS.  Some people, like our host, use a ferry to get to work *every day*).  After going past an impromptu concert by a group of Chinese musicians and walking past a giant outdoor chess tournament, our first real stop was the SultanAhmet Blue Mosque, shown below.

So, this mosque is just one of Istanbul's large collection of really old mosques.  It was really pretty on the inside - very detailed, with a lot of cool tiling.  All the women had to wear headscarves into the mosque, so they gave those of us not already wearing scarves some fabric to wrap around our head.

After leaving the Blue Mosque, we got some street food (roasted chestnuts and corn) and moved on to what would be the star of the show today: the Hagia Sofia/ Aya Sofya.  This is an incredible building, now a museum, that was originally built as a church in the 6th century.  Later, when the Turks conquered Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul (in the 1400s, I think), they also turned the AyaSofya into a mosque, and covered up some of the old Christian stuff.  More recently, in the 1930s I think, it was turned into a museum, and lots of the Christian stuff has been rediscovered.

This next picture illustrates the sort of dual nature that the Aya Sofya took on.  In the middle of the dome, you can see a mosaic of Mary and baby Jesus that have been there since the building was a church, and then on either side, you can see the giant calligraphy plaques that read "Allah" and "Mohammed" from when the building was a mosque.

After Aya Sofya, we got some light food.  We were going to move on to see the Topkapi Palace, but happened upon a really nice park and decided to just sit around in the park for awhile.  It was much-needed - I think both of us were a little burnt out on museums.  Maybe Topkapi Palace, Galata Tower, and the other big Istanbul tourist destinations will happen tomorrow.  We also might go to a historic Greek district near where our host attends school & teaches.


Oh, by the way, I forgot: I got you guys all a nice souvenir (from the Aya Sofya's gift shop):

Hehehe.

Alright - goodnight!

Emily