On Friday, we woke up at 9 am, had complimentary breakfast provided by our hotel and then asked the management to change our room since it was very small. The one that they gave us wasn't much bigger but it had a better floor plan. After changing rooms, we left for our touristy day.
Our first stop was the famous Blue Mosque. The locals call it the Sultanahmet Mosque, after the Sultan who ordered the construction of this mosque. By the time we got there, the Friday prayer had just ended so we prayed Zuhr in congregation. The mosque is fabulous and has a grand building. We also saw the remnants of an Egyptian Hippodrome - just one pillar is left now. This used to be the arena where chariots races were held when the Romans had Istanbul (or Constantinople) as the capital of their empire.
Then we saw the highlight of our trip so far - the Hagia Sophia. It used to be a church and had to be reconstructed after burning down twice during its long history as a church. When Sultan Ahmet took over Constantinople, he converted the church to a mosque by adding minarets. Hagia Sophia remained a church for some 900 years and then a mosque for some 400 years before the secular government of Mustafa Kamal (affectionately called Ataturk which means father of Turks) declared it a museum. The building is just a fascinating juxtaposition of Islam and Christianity. Paintings of Jesus, Mary, John the Baptist along with Quranic verses along with crosses and calligraphic names of Allah, Prophet Muhammad, the four Caliphs and the prophet's two grandsons - you see it all there. After spending about 3 hours at the Hagia Sophia, we had supper at a restaurant.
Then we went to the Grand Bazaar - it has about 4000 shops and all of them are in a covered facility. We window shopped there for about an hour and also got some Turkish Apple Tea. After that, we went to Istanbul's Times Square - the Taksim square. It really is the face of modern Turkey, specially the nearby Istaklal Street with all kinds of European and North American chains, malls, clubs and cafes. We went to a mall, had some snacks since we were tired of all the walking and needed to rest. After that, we got a massage at one of the massage chairs at the mall that operate with coins - a much needed recovery.
Then we got back to our hotel and are off to sleep now. Tomorrow's going to be another touristy day with lots planned. You'll hear about it in the next update, tomorrow :)
Our first stop was the famous Blue Mosque. The locals call it the Sultanahmet Mosque, after the Sultan who ordered the construction of this mosque. By the time we got there, the Friday prayer had just ended so we prayed Zuhr in congregation. The mosque is fabulous and has a grand building. We also saw the remnants of an Egyptian Hippodrome - just one pillar is left now. This used to be the arena where chariots races were held when the Romans had Istanbul (or Constantinople) as the capital of their empire.
Then we saw the highlight of our trip so far - the Hagia Sophia. It used to be a church and had to be reconstructed after burning down twice during its long history as a church. When Sultan Ahmet took over Constantinople, he converted the church to a mosque by adding minarets. Hagia Sophia remained a church for some 900 years and then a mosque for some 400 years before the secular government of Mustafa Kamal (affectionately called Ataturk which means father of Turks) declared it a museum. The building is just a fascinating juxtaposition of Islam and Christianity. Paintings of Jesus, Mary, John the Baptist along with Quranic verses along with crosses and calligraphic names of Allah, Prophet Muhammad, the four Caliphs and the prophet's two grandsons - you see it all there. After spending about 3 hours at the Hagia Sophia, we had supper at a restaurant.
Then we went to the Grand Bazaar - it has about 4000 shops and all of them are in a covered facility. We window shopped there for about an hour and also got some Turkish Apple Tea. After that, we went to Istanbul's Times Square - the Taksim square. It really is the face of modern Turkey, specially the nearby Istaklal Street with all kinds of European and North American chains, malls, clubs and cafes. We went to a mall, had some snacks since we were tired of all the walking and needed to rest. After that, we got a massage at one of the massage chairs at the mall that operate with coins - a much needed recovery.
Then we got back to our hotel and are off to sleep now. Tomorrow's going to be another touristy day with lots planned. You'll hear about it in the next update, tomorrow :)
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