Istanbul Day 5

The last day of our little escape. As we where finished with all the shopping (he he) and we had to leave in the afternoon we decided to go for the typical touristic things like visiting the Hagia Sophia (museum). As many might know Hagia Sophia used to be a church but in 1453 when Constantinople (Istanbul) was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over.



The Islamic features— such as the mihrab, the minbar, and the four minarets outside — were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey.

For many years there is a huge restoration going on as you can see. The scafolding , at least fourteen stores high is also fascinating.

Here you can see at the ceiling a mosaic of Maria with her Child but also the symbols for Muslims. I like the way the two religions look peacefully together.

Looking at the situation, the restoration looks like an endless project, we saw workers at the top, must be pretty scary working there.

A funny fact, although many beauty of history can be seen, one thing that got most attention and most pictures was taken off was not very historical but pretty photogenic....

This was the library of the Sultan, behind the metal work.


This is the minbar, which is a pulpit in the mosque where the Imam (leader of prayer) stands to deliver sermons.


There were no staircases but a sort of tunnels which turned slowly up.

All the details where amazing, imagine how it must have been when it was new, and how they made it, is a real miracle.

Mum was admiring...

Fountain (Şadirvan) for ritual ablutions.



After the museum we decided to walk around a little...

we accidentaly stumbled on the Grand Bazaar, oops...

We bought two very yummy bags from a very kind shop owner, all bags are handmade and gorgeous.

In case you are in the neighborhood, the shop's name is Pırlanta and is at the Çarşıkapı Nuruosmaniye Caddesi no 31, Kapalıçarşı, Istanbul.

I forgot to mention some addresses in previous posts, just ask if you wonder :)

We are now home still with the air of Istanbul in our hair, tomorrow everything will be just like before.
Historical information was taken from wikipedia

Istanbul Day 1

Yes, we are in Istanbul! Finally a little vacation we have been wanting for a while. The main reason that we went in January instead of May, when the weather is better, is the exibition of Salvador Dali . We arrived last night and are staying in this lovely hotel in the old cetrum(Marmaris-Istanbul is a 12 hour car drive or 1 hour plane flight, we went by plane). Went to the exibition today.

The nice part of this exibition is that they are not showing the famous paintings we already know but hundreds of his sketches which are not known at all.

Pictures are alowed but too many to take pictures of all the drawings and sketches, but this hall was so nice because it was like his famous painting had become real.

Art can relax a person, and some people relax a little too much, like this guy who became one with the art around him :)

There where also photographs of Dali taken by the Turkish photograph Ara Güler.

On the way back to the hotel we got a little lost, which is very normal here in the city of a population of about 17 million. Here you see the Hagia Sophia, looks magical in the evening.

And Sultan Ahmet another famous mosque and close to the hotel we are staying in.

In the garden of Sultan Ahmet we saw this amazing tree, the tree it self had no leaves left but the hedera grew so much, that the tree got a new blanket.

Aaaaah we found it! And look what we bought in the gift shop of the museum! A book of the exibition, a DVD of Salvador Dali.....

....and look at my sexy Dali Lips earrings!

Don't I look sexy??? Hi hi :)

More adventures tomorrow...