First Time Stepping Inside of a Mosque

The Topkapi Palace Museum is a 14^th century oriental Asian style which holds Turkish treasures from thrones, aigrettes, jewelry, and weapons, all covered in emeralds, pearls, rubies, diamonds, etc. 

These items were absolutely gorgeous ! Especially the KaşikçI diamond.

            The legend tells of a homeless man finding this diamond near a dumpster.
He goes to a jeweler asking to trade it for 3 spoons not knowing what it was.
The jeweler of course made the trade, and it became very popular at the Bazaar.
It was fought over, until the sultan found out about the diamond and took it.
Today, it is known as one of the largest 25 diamonds in the world. 

            The architecture of the buildings:
Ceilings and walls were all different types of the color blue in beautiful mosaics to represent the sky.

"Earth is our mother, but the sky is our father."

At entrances, there would be inscriptions in Arabic in gold over a green background generally because green is the color of Islam, and gold is ,well, gold.

            

Next, we walked down Sultanahmet Square to see the Hippodrome and the Sultanahmet Mosque, to tourists known as the Blue Mosque, built in early 17^th century.
I had a wonderful time there especially it being the first time I had ever stepped inside of a mosque (also with a new experience of needing to cover my head and take off my shoes).
Even though we were there for a very short amount of time, I enjoyed looking at the architecture, and seeing how it differentiates from cathedrals in western Europe. 

(The Hippodrome)                                                   (Sultanahmet Square)

Honestly, I was a bit distracted from what Borcu was saying by the mosaics and all of the designs on the walls and ceilings. 

I fell in love with the Blue Mosque. 

I fell in love with the gorgeous blue mosaics and the frescoes. 

I wish we were able to spend more time here, 

but no worries, next time I will definitely be returning.

            Then we walked to the famous Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya), which translates to “divine wisdom.” This was quite the experience because we have all read about this mosque in the history books and studied the famous mosaics, but to see it in person was almost unreal. 

 We saw the judgment day mosaic, as well as the 12^th century mosaic of Jesus, Mary, and John the Baptist.

The only thing that upset me a bit was that the middle of the mosque was being renovated so half of the place was covered from the public.

            Walking down the Spice Market is a great way to get to know Turkish culture. 

You have not experienced it until you have been yelled at by Turkish men to buy spices, until you have haggled prices, or until someone has said, “Just because you are beautiful, or just because you are so nice, I will give you a special price.” 

At first I felt honored, but by the end, I did not feel so special anymore ! 

I do not normally use fancy spices when cooking, but because it is so famous here, I decided to buy Mint and Paprika. Mint because I wanted to experiment with something new and Paprika because I just love the spice.

            This is also one of the first places where I cannot even pretend to blend in. I am so obviously not Turkish, so I decided to be the typical tourist taking hundreds of photos and documenting every moment. :P

Travel includes meeting new people. 

Tonight's dinner was to meet a few of the people I'd be spending the next 12 days with. 

~ Alexa