There is nothing like waking up to the site of Istanbul

I woke up this morning at 7:00 to see us pulling into Istanbul. It was a little hazy, so I didn’t get a GREAT view of the city, but it was still pretty awesome. From the deck, you would see the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque. They tower over the old town! It was a great experience.

I had my city orientation today. I don’t know if I just misread the description of the trip or completely forgot what we were doing, but the whole thing was a surprise! We left the port and drove around the newer part of the European side of the city. The tour guide pointed out the soccer stadium for the Istanbul team where he used to play soccer! It was really exciting that he was once on the team for Istanbul. We then headed to the old part of the city on the European side of Istanbul. It’s so weird that Istanbul is on two different continents. I had no idea. The population is also between 15 and 20 million people! Anyway, we drove around the city walls a little bit and had a photo opportunity before heading to the Mosque of the Prince. It was a smaller mosque with only 2 minarets but it was really gorgeous inside and very simple. We had to cover our shoulders and our hair and everything above our ankles. We took our shoes off before going in.

After visiting that mosque and eating our delicious (not so much) boxed lunches from the ship, we headed into the heart of the old city and visited the Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Hippodrome, and the Cistern Basilica.

The Hagia Sofia was mind blowing. It is a museum now, so we could enter without covering our arms and taking off our shoes, etc. It is amazing to think about how long it’s been standing there. It’s been rebuilt 3 times. There are still pillars around from the second building and one pillar from the first. It was undergoing renovation on the inside to restore all of the mosaics from when Constantine first ruled Constantinople under Christian rule. Since it is against Muslim religion to use faces and icons, they were covered over when it became a mosque. They are now trying to restore all of these original mosaics. Some of them are visible. It was also really interesting to see the places where kings and sultans were coronated. It’s mind blowing to just think about the ceremonies and the defending of the crown that went down in this very place thousands of years ago. Our tour guy pointed out where the empress stood on the 2nd floor (since women weren’t allowed on the ground floor) and watched the ceremonies from between two pillars. Another interesting thing about this place was that the larger pillars (there are 8 of them all together) on the right and left of the altar section are from one of the original 7 wonders of the world – the temple of Artemis. Isn’t that awesome!!! SO much history in one place!

The Blue Mosque was also pretty breathtaking. It is just across the gardens from the Hagia Sofia. It’s the only mosque with 6 minarets. We covered our arms and took off of our shoes and headed inside. The patterns and designs were SO ornate and it was really gorgeous that most of it was in blue and white tile around the gallery. There were a lot of people in there both tourists and those praying. I didn’t know that mosques were also used for business of state and government things. They were used for that more than they were for praying now since you can pray and still talk to Allah from anywhere.

The hippodrome was pretty interesting. There wasn’t really much to see, but it was cool learning about the history of the pieces and to see them. There are 2 other towers like this one – one in NYC and one in London. The thing that surprised me the most on this whole trip was the Cistern Basilica. Our tour guide told us we were going to the underground waterway. So we were all thinking… awesome… the sewers.. it’s going to stink. Not the case. It was AMAZING! Think the chamber of secrets…only with red lighting, more water/pillars/open space, 2 heads of medusa, and it’s in Turkey not England. It was really overwhelming at first when you walk down the stairs and this huge underground area full of over 300 pillars pops up before your eyes. Apparently it was used to store water in case of shortage. The water is really low now, but there are fish in there (to keep the mosquitoes away!). I definitely recommend checking this out if you go to Istanbul. I saw a picture of it earlier in the independent travel suggestions and I just quickly overlooked it, but it’s definitely a must see!!

So my trip was very successful. I got a lot of sight seeing done. Tomorrow, since everything is closed, It’s paper time. Hooray! And then the 3rd day, we’re going to go to the bazaar. The 4th day I think we’re going to take a ferry to the Asian side of Istanbul. My friend is going to Cappadocia the next 2 days. JEALOUS! (Check it out on google, it’s an awesome place, and it’s mentioned in my top 15 unusual hotels of the world) The 5th day will just be more bazaar visiting and then getting ready to head to Bulgaria. It is suggested to take a ferry up the Bosphorus, but our boat is going to do that trip anyway.

Turkey is great and I’m really excited about my next few days here!!!!