Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul was definitely one of my top favorite places that we visited. As we came into the city, what really stood out was the beauty of the skyline. Being a primarily Muslim city, there seems to be mosques everywhere, and their towering minarets can be seen from anywhere in the city. Five times a day, the minarets blast music throughout the city to signal a call to prayer. When the music plays, Muslims all over the city stop to pray, no matter where they are, or what they are doing. Some carry small rugs that they roll out to pray on. It was inspiring to see them taking the time to stop and worship throughout the day.






Istanbul is a very old city, rich in history, and there is a lot to see here. It is the only city in the world that lies on two continents. We only have one day, so we decide to see a couple of the things in the most historical part of the city, the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sophia.

Visitors entering the Blue Mosque are required to remove their shoes and women must cover their arms and shoulders. It was absolutely amazing inside, though our photos didn't come out very well because of the lighting. Every inch of the ceiling and walls are covered in intricate mosaic tiles, and there are hundreds of stained glass windows which offer the only source of light, other than the hundreds of  tiny glass candle holders that hang from huge iron chandeliers.

Next we went to the Hagia Sophia, which is right across the street. Built in 360, it is now a museum, but was originally an Orthodox Cathedral, and later used as a mosque as well. Until around 1500, the Hagia Sophia was the largest and most ornate church ever built. It was currently going through a restoration process to repair the cracked dome and replace some of the mosaics, but we could still get a sense of it's great beauty. The walls are covered in huge marble slabs of all different colors, and there are gold mosaic tiles on the ceiling depicting the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. We learned from our tour guide that many of the gold statues and mosaics that were here at one time were stolen by Latin crusaders, and shipped to the Doge of Venice, who organized the invasion.





After a long day of sightseeing, were were tired and hungry, so we walked across the street and stopped in the first restaurant we saw with food displayed in the window. We didn't know what it was, but it looked delicious, and we hit the jackpot. This was probably the best food we had during our entire trip. After dinner, we drank some raki, which is a licorice flavored liqueur popular in Turkey, and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.