Day 4 - Monday, August 25 - Istanbul, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia

The day got off to a good start with a drive under the Roman aqueduct and along the Roman city wall. The aqueduct was constructed in 373AD to supply water to the growing city of Constantinople, the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire under Constantine. Our tour guide joked that the Romans had taken care to make sure that the arches would be large enough to allow passage of buses.

Along the way, our guide provided information on the development of the modern Turkish state. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is famous for the Ottoman success at the battle of Gallipoli in 1915 during WWI but the Ottomans were eventually defeated and since they had sided with Germany, were under English and French occupation - this was the beginning of the disaster in the Middle East when the borders of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine / Israel were defined without considering the history of the region. Ataturk was able to establish an army and drove out the British in 1923 and became president of the state of Turkiye. He is well-regarded for his many forward-looking approaches to government. The government was establish as being secular and the typical head garb which was indicative of religious orientation was banned. Women were given the right to vote in the 1930s, before Switzerland and other European countries. The government continued to be fairly liberal until recent times with the election of President Erdogan who has moved it in a much more Muslim-oriented and authoritarian direction, much to the dismay of our guide but he was optimistic that it could be turned back. It sounded a lot like the current situation in the US although I'm not as optimistic.

We then went to the Blue Mosque, officially the Sultan Ahmed mosque which not surprisingly was constructed by Sultan Ahmed starting in 1609 to impress Allah into supporting his reign. The common name comes from the large amount of blue mosaics in the mosque. It was built next to the ruins of the Roman Hippodrome. There were huge crowds of tourists waiting to go inside. There is a strict dress code that women must have their hair covered with a scarf, no excessive exposed skin and conservative dress. Men are not allowed to wear shorts. Coverings are provided by the mosque. It was a bit surprising to see women arriving scantily dressed and men with shorts. Everyone is required to remove shoes on entering the (any) mosque. Most of the mosque consists of one huge room covered with carpets for people to pray. A high pulpit (Christian term) is where the imam would do readings and give sermons. This is covered with a large golden spire pointing towards heaven. All mosques around the world are oriented to point towards Mecca.

After leaving the mosque, we went to the area of the Hippodrome where not much is left except for an Egyptian obelisk is mounted on a pedestal. The obelisk is made of granite and the hieroglyphs are still exceptionally clear, much clearer than the marble carvings of the Roman emperor on the base where it was placed in the 4th century. The obelisk is about a thousand years older.

From there we walked to the Hagia Sofia which is just a short distance away. It was a Byzantine basilica built in 360AD when Constantinople was the center of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Christian Church. Of course it went through many changes over time due to fires, earthquakes, disuse and repair. Until the construction St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, it was the largest church in the world. At a declining time in the 1200s, when the crusaders came through Istanbul on the way to Jerusalem, the Holy Roman Emperor provided funds to repair the cathedral.

This all changed in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople (subsequently Istanbul) to the Ottomans. It was converted to a mosque, pre-dating the blue mosque. All the Christian mosaics were plastered and painted over and it was filled with Muslim decorations and writings of scripture from the Koran. When a secular republic was declared in Turkiye, some of the mosaics were uncovered although it was a very long restoration process, starting in the 1930s and it was converted to a museum. More recently, the ground floor was restored as an active mosque and the upper galleries continue as a museum. The eastern orientation couldn't be changed very easily when it was initially converted to a mosque but in the front chancel there is a section that has been modified to point towards Mecca. More recently, a mosaic of Mary in the front of the chancel has been covered with drapes to address Muslim sensitivity although there is a spot where one can view the mosaic underneath.

The plan had been to visit the Grand Bazaar and see a demonstration of Turkish carpet weaving but we wanted to go back to the hotel and then visit the new Sultan's Palace near our hotel which was constructed in the 1800s more in the tradition of European palaces.

That is where we learned that life can be very unexpected.

While using Google maps, I discovered that the palace was closed on Mondays, along with many other museums.

We decided to take the ferry across the Bosphorus to the Asian side to have drinks and lunch. We walked down to the ferry terminal but couldn't find the desired ferry listed. There is another ferry terminal a few hundred feet to the east.

We found the ferry terminal and had been told that a credit card could be used to pay the fare instead of buying tickets or a pass. I tapped my credit card on the reader and the indicator on the turnstile turned to a red X which I assumed meant that it wasn't working. A helpful young woman tapped my card and told me to go through - apparently the red X means it is ok! It was a pleasant 15 minute ride to the other side. The water was the most beautiful dark blue I remember seeing in the sea.

We found a little 2nd story cafe with a beautiful view of the activity along the shore and the many ships going by, including a Virgin cruise ship that was unimaginably huge. It looked like it was going to crash into the shore as it departed but was actually going into the point into the Marmara sea. The real shock was when we went to order a much anticipated beer and was told that they don't serve alcohol because it is next to a mosque! But actually no alcohol is served in the town because the Asian side is much more heavily Muslim-adhering. It took a long time but my local whole sea bass was delicious. We've learned that one should not be in a hurry when going out to eat here.

On the way back to the ferry we stopped for a cone of Turkish ice cream. It is quite different with a much thicker and has a bit of a gooey consistency.

Back on the other side we stopped at a pub for a draft Tuborg for me and a draft Guinness for Carmen. It was delicious. We were able to get a taxi back to the hotel without difficult and relaxed for the rest of the evening, reading the Sunday Kingston Freeman and working on the blog.

Tomorrow morning we have to leave the hotel at 6:30AM for our 10:15 flight to Bucharest.

Enough writing for today. (too much time before we can go to bed this evening)