Visiting the Hagia Sophia Museum and The Blue Mosque

Tuesday, May 26, was another adventurous day. All 7

of us traveled by bus, then boat to the European side of

Istanbul. There we explored The Hagia Sophia Museum

and The Blue Mosque. It was a full day as Kit and I had

to review some of our world history and learned so much

more.

Here's the boat that we road on to get to the European

side of Istanbul.

Maddox and Addi - looking at the other boats that were
traveling through the waters of the Bosphorus Strait.

Kit, Matt and Cyrus - Matt has Cyrus in the baby carrier

in front of him. You cannot see his head, but his little

arms are hanging out (red stripes).

Jenny, Maddox and Addi on the boat ride

There are mosques everywhere you look!

Walking toward the Hagia Sophia Museum

Long ago, the Hagia Sophia was an Orthodox church, then
it was changed to a Muslim mosque, then a museum that

represents both faiths. It is old, huge and incredible.

One of many mozaic panels throughout the Hagia Sophia.
There has been and continues to be restoration within this

old building. The plan is to show the architecture and the

Christian mozaics along with the Muslim features that

at one time were a part of the Hagia Sophia.

This picture is dark, but this is a wooden door that is so

tall and huge. I could not capture it all with my camera.

It is said that only the emporer could walk through these

doors during Byzantine times.

This is the ceiling of the main dome and you can see the

scaffolding that reaches high to that level. There are steps

within the scaffolding that men climb daily to work on the

restoration.

A marble jar...notice the cat to the left. They are everywhere.

Cats are honored in Turkey as they receive the credit for

taking care of the rat population long ago during the Black

Plague years. The rats spread the disease to many countries

and many died from it. Turkey seemed to be protected

from the disease by their cat population.

Here you can see the Muslim features from that period of

time. The two discs illustrate Arabic writing.

Addi and Maddox enjoyed going around and around this

marble column, one of several.

Bottom left, part of one of the old wooden chandeliers. In

the center, a few of the many stained glass windows.

Muezzin's lodge, built during the reign of Sultan Mumed II,

1574-1595. The muezzin is the person who gives the call

to prayer in a mosque. With so many mosques located

throughout the city, you will hear the call to prayer about

six times per day beginning at 6:00 am and the last one

is at 10:00 am. There are about 3 mosques located nearby

Jenny and Matt's apartment here in Istanbul. We hear the

call to prayer everyday...the voices chanting scriptures in

Arabic all at the same time. It is very interesting!

This spot is marked as the place where the emperors were

crowned.

A mimbar in a mosque corresponds in function to the pulpit

in a church. This is a fine example of Ottoman-period

marble-working craftmanship in the 16th century.

Bettter view of the stained glass window in the pulpit area.

Mary and Baby Jesus mozaic on the ceiling.

A better view of the old wooden chandeliers, once they

burned candles, but have been modernized with electric

bulbs.

The Hagia Sophia is built with numerous colors of marble.

Due to the ceiling being so high and the doors open, birds

do get into the building. Maddox enjoyed searching for

them as they flew across the museum.

Sultan Mahmud 1 (1730-1754) Library - built in 1739

Nothing like our libraries of today!

One of the many wooden ladders used long

ago to create the features inside this building.

I thought the scaffolding of today looked scary,

but I would never have had the nerve to use

this apparatus to climb long ago!

Tiles depicting the Holy Kaaba in Mecca - Iznik tiles from

the 16th and 17th centuries.

The stone ramp that led to the upper gallery

Kit heading upstairs to see more relics

Mary Ann beside the sign with pictures of mozaics.

Upstairs, the Lodge of the Empress - From here she would

follow the divine service of the church.

Another view of the lower floor from the upstairs. This

somewhat gives one the picture of how high the ceiling

is in the building.

A view of the city from the upstairs gallery

A marble door in which the participants in synods entered

and left the meeting chamber.

Part of a mozaic that was discovered during the renovations

of the Hagia Sophia. Once this building became a mosque,

all features of the Orthodox church were painted or covered

over. Over time, many of these beautiful mozaics have been

discovered. This one depicts Judegement Day with Jesus

enthroned between the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist.

This was created during the 12th century.

This is a picture of what the entire mozaic once looked like.

Another view of the outside from within Hagia Sophia.

If you look closely, near the middle of this picture, you will

see Jenny. She's nursing Cyrus while the rest of us are

viewing the sites upstairs.

More of the beautiful marble columns

Just one picture of the beautiful tile work found throughout

the Hagia Sophia.

Grandad, Maddox and Addi

Our view of the outside of the Hagia Sophia as we head

to an outside restaurant for lunch.

We enjoyed some Turkish food with a very friendly wait

staff. Addi had spaghetti, Kit had chicken kabob and the

rest of us had lamb. Mmmmm! Maddox had french fries

and bread!

Gran, Grandad, Addi and Maddox in front of a

beautiful fountain.

Our next adventure was to view the Blue Mosque. It is

located beside Hagia Sophia. It is about 400 years old,

huge and still used by worshiping Muslims today.

We arrived just as prayer time had just concluded. The

red carpet looks continuous, but it is actually numerous

rectangles, just the size for each man to kneel and pray.

We had to remove our shoes before entering the mosque.

Jenny and I had to cover our heads out of respect. The

wooden railing prevents visitors from going into the

prayer area.

The dome ceiling is very high. There are beautiful

stained glass windows all around. There are many

beautiful patterns of blue and yellow tile throughout.

This picture was taken by a Turkish gentleman who

followed us in from the outside of the mosque. He insisted

that he be our free tour guide and gave us lots of information

about the Blue Mosque. We weren't dumb and knew that

he had to want something in exchange for his attention to

us. He knew that we looked like American tourists and

took us to be gullible. We told him up front that we didn't

want the services of a tour guide and he stated that he was

just doing it for free. Then he shared that he owned a

carpet shop, those famous Turkish rugs, and that he also

sold porcelain items there too. Maybe we would come by

his shop and purchase something. So there we have the

scheme out in the open! We told him that we didn't have

time to shop, that we appreciated his information, but we

didn't need him. He was persistant and didn't leave. We

were friendly, courteous. He took the picture of us above.

As we left, put our shoes back on at the steps, Kit offered

him 5 lira. He refused and once again started talking about

us going to his shop! Finally, we told him that Jenny had to

get to the baby to feed him, that Matt and he other two

children were waiting for us at a nearby park. He finally got

the message that we were not interested and not going to

his shop. We walked away from him and he approached us

one more time. This isn't uncommon for Turks to be so

aggressive in their sales. We got serious with him too and

he gave up. BUT, once we were outside the courtyard of the

mosque, he approached Kit again. This time he stated that

he wouldn't want to "break his heart, that if he wanted to

make a donation, he could"!!! So Kit gave him the 5 lira and

he left us alone. It was not a scary situation, but one where

we had to be firm. The other thing that Jenny shared is that

he couldn't take the money in the mosque or on the mosque

grounds. He waited until we were outside of the wall before

he approached Kit once again. Interesting!!!

Another picture to show the height of the mosque.