We arrived at our hotel pretty late at night but we couldn't resist the opportunity to walk around the park that separates the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia...our hotel was right across the street from the Blue Mosque.
This was the view we got of the Blue Mosque each morning as we ate our breakfast on the hotel patio, pretty amazing!
The Hagia Sofia at night
The first day in Istanbul we did the tourist sites, we toured the Hagia Sofia, the underground cistern and the Blue Mosque and we also walked around the impressive Grand Bazaar. We also saw many, many, many Mosques
Inside the Hagia Sofia. Built in 532AD as a Christian church it was converted into a Mosque in 1453 when the Ottomans took control of Istanbul. It was finally turned into a museum in the 1930's and is an amazing site. The interior is so impressive with the mosaics and the huge dome, this was definitely a highlight of the trip.
The underground cistern. Built in the 6th century AD it has 336 columns and covers the area of about two football fields. Built to meet the needs of a fast growing capital city, when full it could hold 27 million gallons of fresh water.
The interior of the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent
Inside the Rustem Pasa Mosque
The Grand Bazaar. I was expecting it to be more like the market in Morocco but it was much more organized and better maintained. A crazy, crowded hectic experience but fun to see the colors and smell the smells of this place
Fun colorful shoes
Mmmmm....Turkish Delight
I loved the colorful lamps
Friday we decided to take a break from the crazy city and take a boat ride up the Bosphorus Strait. Turkey is located in both Europe and Asia and the Bosphorus Strait separates the two sides. The 2 hour boat ride was wonderful. The weather was beautiful and we saw many villages and gorgeous houses on both sides of the Strait. The final stop was on the Asian side of Turkey so we hopped off and explored a bit around this quiet village, just so we could say we've been to Asia:)
On the boat
From the boat dock you can hike about 20 minutes up to the top of a hill and explore around an old castle. From this vantage point you can look out over the Bosphorus and all the way to the Black Sea.
We walked all around the old castle wall. This picture doesn't really show it but we were up pretty high. Look Ma, no handrails!
About halfway around the wall we stopped to sit for a while and just enjoy the beautiful day. Down in the little bay there were lots of dolphins jumping in and out of the water. There must have been a school of fish or something right in that spot because we sat and watched the dolphins for about 15 minutes.
We got back from the boat tour in time to do a bit more exploring. The sky looked like it was going to rain so we ducked into the Blue Mosque. What a real treat to be allowed into such holy buildings and to enjoy the beauty and history of such wonderful places.
By Saturday we were ready to hit the site seeing trail once again. Our first stop was the wonderful Chora Church. Rick Steves was not joking when he suggests giving your neck a nice stretch before entering this church. The mosaics are fantastic and you have to look straight up to see them and then you get dizzy spinning around trying to see them all at once!
My favorite mosaic from the church. This shows Mary on her death bed and Christ is receiving her spirit in the form of an infant. The detail work was amazing and the size of each piece of tile was so tiny.
Next stop, the old walls of the city. Yes, some of the stairs to climb up to the top of the wall were this steep!!!
From the top of the wall, overlooking Istanbul
After the wall we found our way over to the Eyup Sultan Mosque. Eyup Sultan was the prophet Muhammad's right hand man and he was buried here. Centuries later Sultan Mehmet built a Mosque to mark the spot of his grave. This Mosque was unique in that there weren't many Western tourists here but a crowd of Muslim pilgrims visiting this holy site. This is a photo of how I looked each time we entered a Mosque.
The interior of the Eyup Sultan Mosque. Once again we were amazed to be allowed into such a Holy place.
We continued on our walking tour of the back street neighborhoods of the city. The tour ended at this pretty but very low key looking church. It turns out this is the seat of the Orthodox church. Like the Vatican in Rome, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate holds the offices of the head of the Orthodox church and its more than 300 million followers worldwide.
We went inside to have a look around. They were holding a service so we quietly sat down on one of the benches. There was about 30 minutes of chanting and then this man appeared and gave a short sermon. Well, it turns out this is Bartholomew, the 270th archbishop of the Orthodox church! This was the main guy, the head hancho and there was NO security. It was a real treat to be in the right place at the right time and enjoy this experience.
Our plane didn't leave on Sunday until the afternoon so we took the opportunity to visit one last site on Sunday morning. We went up to the Topkapi Palace. It was the first time all week that we actually had to stand in line to buy tickets! Once through the gate into the Palace courtyard we headed straight for the Harem which was the living quarters for the Sultan and his wives and concubines.
The tile work inside the Harem was so beautiful
Many of the doors were inlaid wood and many of the walls and floors were covered with tile
The Palace is also home to the many jewels and treasures of the Sultans including the Topkapi Dagger...yeah, those are real emeralds.
Here we are in the courtyard of the Palace. After our visit we headed out to the airport. It was such an amazing city to visit and one we hadn't really planned on seeing, this was a last minute trip idea because the tickets were cheap and Oma was here to watch our boys. I'm so glad we got to see Istanbul!
Amazing!!! I jut added Istanbul to my bucket list ;)
ReplyDeleteAwesome pictures, Rachelle! How great that you and Hyrum got to go alone :)
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