Thursday - April 22, 2015: After five days in Turkey, we are truly enamored with the country, food, archeology, and people. Our little apartment in the Sultanahmet district of the Old City of Istanbul is smack dab in the middle of Turkish culture and ancient sites. Starting at 5 am and continuing for four more times during the day and early evening, the Muslim call to prayer reverberates from the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia Mosque, with our apartment pretty much in the middle. Turkey is a country that is officially secular with separation between government and religion, but obviously it is predominantly Muslim, evidenced by many of the women with either head covering or full veil. It was interesting to tour one of the large mosques and former sultan's palace, Hagia Sophia, that had both Arabic Muslim symbols of the Ottoman Empire alongside older mosaics of Christian figures from the Eastern Roman Empire. Istanbul with its 13.5 million people is comprised of incredibly diverse cultures with every walk down a street providing a listening to dozens of languages. The city has so many ancient history that it seems that everywhere you turn there are Greek (three thousand years old) or Roman (1500 - 2000 years old) columns, sculptures, or reused building stone. We looked for over an hour for the Roman "Hippodrome" used in the early AD centuries for chariot races, only to find out that all the stones of the Hippodrome stadiums were taken for construction of the Blue Mosque and only some of the paving stones were left to support a few obelisks. Looks like even the ancients knew how to recycle!
Cindy and Annabelle heading into the Blue Mosque, a place of Muslim worship and Sultan Amed's tomb, built in the early 1600's. This was a magnificent building and rightfully deserved it name with all the blue tile in the ceiling of the main worship area. Similar to the Buddhist temples we visited in Thailand, before entering the Mosque visitors were required to remove shoes and women were to have a head covering.
Inside the Blue Mosque showing some of the beautiful ornate tile work on the ceiling dome.
Inside the harem of the Topkapi Palace, used by the Ottoman sultans as their residence for over 400 years. Apparently this room was where the various members of the harem (dozens if not hundreds of the sultan's wives and concubines) would socialize and entertain the sultan. Makes our North American monogamous relationships seem pretty simple!
Inside the Hagia Sophia, an ancient Christian church of the Constantinople era, that was repurposed by the Ottoman Empire to also serve as a mosque and palace. Can you see the Arabic Muslim mosaic work on the upper panels that border the central mosaic of Madonna and Christ child on the ceiling? Interesting mix of religions represented in this hall, large enough to house the Statue of Liberty.
This extraordinary display of tulips and other flowers planted in intricate designs was part of Gullhane Park, the current version of the Topkapi Palace outer gardens. Never have we seen some extensive and varied tulips, not just here but throughout Istanbul.
