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| The Blue Mosque |
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| Hagia Sofia |
The Hagia Sofia has had many identities over its lifetime: Starting out as a church, transforming into a mosque, and now stands as a museum. Since it is no longer a religious institution, you pay an entry fee to explore it. It is one worth paying for the experience and knowing that the expense goes towards the upkeep of this incredible structure. The lines for this place were rumored to always be insanely long, so we queued up about 30 minutes before opening and had no issues. You can bypass the line if you buy into a tour group, but we tend to enjoy the experience more without someone talking at us and leading us around at their pace.
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
All over the Hagia Sofia, if you pay close enough attention, you will find runes carved into the marble of the floors, spindles of the railings, walls, everywhere. I did not notice them until Adam pointed them out, but once he did, I started seeing them everywhere! Some are from the Vikings raids in the 9th century and Ancient Greeks.
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia: Passage ramp to the second floor |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Hagia Sofia |
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| Walked by, doubled-back, and walked in |
We spent the rest of the day casually walking around parts of the city we had not explored yet. WE came across this tiny "restaurant" that had a man carving up some tasty looking delights in a window and we could not resist. I don't know the name of them, but it is was many layers of overly (not in a bad way, other than my cholesterol level) buttered philo dough of either spinach and cheese, meat and cheese, or plain cheese. We got some of each, of course. It was incredible. I say "restaurant", because it only had 3 small tables and seemed to do more of a take out service. There was a constant stream of people as we sat and ate, and a rapid turnout of these baked delights from the kitchen to the man chopping them up in the window. I only wish I knew what it was called to tell you to search it out and try it!
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| Blue Mosque |
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| Blue Mosque |
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| I had to resist coming home with SO many different lights. They were absolutely beautiful! |
Turkey is a beautiful country that we definitely will be going back to explore more. While I don't feel the need to return to Istanbul or Cappadocia, but there are other incredible regions that we must see: Ephesus and Pamukkale.
