Day
3 – Saturday, August 27, 2011 – Istanbul
The
next morning we got up early, had our breakfast, and walked the few blocks to
the Blue Mosque. After waiting in a short line in the incredible courtyard, we
were able to enter the mosque itself. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, known also as
the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior, was
built in 1609 and is still used as a mosque today. The inside of the mosque is
absolutely stunning, boasting more than 20,000 hand painted ceramic tiles and
more than 200 stained glass windows. Though crowded with tourists, there was
such a sense of peace inside the mosque. There were a few men praying, but the
majority of the prayer area was empty. Words just cannot capture the incredible
beauty of this house of worship. Hopefully our pictures below can give you a
sense of what it was like inside. Across a small courtyard and park from the
Blue Mosque sits the Aya Sofia, the next stop on our journey. The Aya Sofia was
originally an orthodox patriarchal basilica, which was later turned into a
mosque and even later into a museum. It was originally dedicated in 304, and
used as a cathedral until 1453, when it was dedicated as a mosque. In 1935, it
was opened as a museum. Unlike the traditional blues and whites of the inside
of the Blue Mosque, Aya Sofia is decorated in a very ornate gilded style. The
interior is covered in mosaics and paintings of angels, saints, and patriarchs
of the church. From the upstairs balcony, we were able to really take in the
grandeur of the space and appreciate both its history as a cathedral and a
mosque – both traditions are equally present in the current architecture and
decoration.
Following
our morning of mosques we had a quick lunch in the square across from the Aya
Sofia, then went down into the Basilica Cistern. This cistern is the largest of
many cisterns that lie under the city of Istanbul (105,000 square feet), and
was built in the 6th century. Once you go underground, there is an
amazing array of columns holding the roof above the water that still collects
in the cistern (complete with fish). Of note are two columns that have medusa
heads as their bases, and another column covered in ornate teardrops. The
cistern was lit in an incredibly beautiful way, making you feel like you're
back 1500 years ago underground, exploring these pillars and pathways.
From
the Basilica Cistern, we walked over to the Grand Bazaar. All six of us had
really been looking forward to visiting the Bazaar, and after our visit to the
spice market the day before, were expecting something like that, but on a
larger scale. Boy were we wrong. The Grand Bazaar was lovely – clean, not too
crowded, tons of shops, and easier to navigate than we were expecting. We
entered the bazaar in what must have been the leather section, and slowly made
our way into the center of the bazaar. We ambled along, turning when another
small side street looked interesting, and just exploring all of the things that
the bazaar has to offer. Since all 6 of us were interested in taking a Turkish
lamp home with us, we spent some time looking in lamp shops. We weren't finding
much that interested us, until we can across a small shop right in the center
of the bazaar. Daniel and Leah went in first, and found beautiful lampshades
that they put together in different colors to make a five-lamp hanging lamp.
Abram and Leah found a copper lamp that they loved, and Jeremy and I found five
lamps that we put together into a hanging piece for ourselves. The shop owners
couldn't have been nicer. After a rocky start where one of the men electrocuted
himself while trying to plug a lamp in, everything calmed down, the owners
brought us tea, and we all found exactly what we were looking for. Our lamp is
a collection of glass lamps, in blue, green, purple, red, and white. I can't
wait to hang them when we get back to the states. Lamps in hand, we continued
to explore the bazaar and Jeremy and I found a set of tea glasses we had been
eyeing in the spice market, I found a beautiful scarf, Leah J. found a romper
and beautiful earrings, and Leah and Abram found an incredible wall hanging
with embroidered pomegranates.
While
we could have spent another half a day just walking around the bazaar, we
headed back to the hostel to drop things off and headed back out and across the
river to the area of Beyoglu for dinner. We again took the light rail, followed
by a funicular up the hill and past Abram's tower (also known as the Galata
Tower). Beyoglu was a really cute young neighborhood on the northern part of
the European side of Istanbul were we again climbed up to the top of a building
to have dinner with a view of the bustling streets below. After yet another
good meal, the six of us walked around the area for a little while and made our
way to a hotel rooftop bar known for its amazing view of the city. Well, Lonely
Planet guide to Turkey, you did not disappoint. From the roof of the hotel we
had a 360 degree panorama of Istanbul. Looking around, we could see the
financial district, residential parts of the city, bridges all the way up the
river, many mosques, the palace, and the waterfront areas. Being able to see
all of these places where the old meets the new and east meets west was truly
breathtaking.
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