Istanbul May 13 2010

Istanbul is a dramatic city where history is found and made on every street corner. The Turks are wonderful people and go above and beyond to welcome you to their country. The central tourist area, Sultanahmet, is easy to cover on foot making it possible to see many of the major attractions in a couple of days. We had a general idea of the major sites and set out the morning of day one from our hotel to see The Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. We seemed to have an early start on the tourists as there were few line ups which suits me fine “thankyouverymuch”!


The Blue Mosque, which began construction in 1609, is still in use today as a place of worship therefore, as a woman, one must cover up to be allowed to visit. There are scarves and sarongs at the entrance for those who are dressed “inappropriately”, that being us, we three girls covered up. We slipped off our shoes and padded onto the very soft carpet to view the inside of the mosque. The ceiling has been recently restored and is glorious. Predominantly blue, but also gold and yellow, iznik tile mosaics adorn the ceiling giving the building its auspicious name.