On Saturday we decided to devote the day to mosques so we could be appropriately dressed (knees and shoulders covered at minimum plus a head covering for me and socks since we had to take our shoes off). We walked across town to see the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent which is supposed be better then the Blue Mosque but it was basically closed for renovations. So we wandered into the Spice Market, which is very similar to the Grand Bazaar but much smaller and they have a larger spice section. I got some nice kebab spice and Iranian saffron.
After that we went to the Hagia Sofia – which was originally built as an Eastern Orthodox Church in 537 but was turned into a mosque in 1453 and then into a museum in the 1930’s. It is something I have wanted to see since I took art history (and considering majoring in it) during college. It lived up to my expectations but was also different then I expected. First of all it is HUGE- the entire Notre Dame cathedral can fit inside it! It is not quite as spectacular from the outside as the Blue Mosque but it very beautiful inside. From an art history perceptive the best part is the construction and the mosaics. The mosaics are very beautiful but were all covered over when it was turned into a mosque – for some mosaics this was a great way to preserve them but for others it ruined them. The nave of the Hagia Sofia has scaffolding set up since they have been resorting the building for over 30 years and have at least another 10 years to go. The scaffolding is 20 stories high! You can see from the photos that Hagia Sofia still has many elements of the mosque period including many Arabic medallions and the mimber but also has many Christian aspects like an apse and the uncovered art and mosaics. It was definitely a sight to be seen.
After lunch at the Lale Shop famous for hippies in the sixties we headed to the Blue Mosque. After waiting in a short line to take off our shoes and getting a once over for dress code of the mosque officials we headed inside. It was very beautiful with a delicate blue and white tile on everything. The prayer area was quite large but that space is only for men – women have to prayer at the back behind a screen and I was surprised how small that area was. The Blue Mosque was pretty neat inside but I was somewhat disappointed with their lighting system that was suspended from the dome with 100’s of small cables – it really took away from the vastness and beauty of the dome but I guess you have to light the place. The mosque is very large and is still very well maintained today considering it was built in 1609 – and only took 6 years to build! The defining feature of the mosque is the 6 minarets – at the time it was built it rivaled Mecca in number of minarets but Mecca built another one to make sure they were the best. I was pretty frustrated with the lack of respect many tourists had inside the mosque- many women didn’t wear head scarves or cover their shoulders even though there were provided a large scarf before they entered- it blows my mind why people are so disrespectful.
Tangent - I forgot to mention a few things from yesterday. In the afternoon we walked around the Hippodrome which was a chariot racing venue from old times, it is basically a park now. It does contain the Egyptian Obelisk and Column of Constantine which used to be covered in bronze but was looted during the Fourth Crusade. After that we had a great simple dinner next to our hotel of Pitta, which are basically Turkish pizza on a pita type crust- they were great and we had some nice (cheap) beer. Plus our server was the cutest old man.
Tonight we had dinner at a rooftop restaurant that had an amazing view of the Blue Mosque. The food was also excellent – I had a great homemade pasta dish with lamb kebab meat. After dinner we wandered around for awhile and then got great dessert of baklava- one of my favorites!
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