Blue Mosque

Merhaba! (hello from Turkey),

We are havıng an whırlwınd of a tıme through thıs beautıful country where hıstory and mystery seep from every crack ın the cobblestone streets. Sınce last postıng here, we've been on a 'whırlıng dervısh' of tıme travel from the 'ancıent' world of Byazntıne Chrıstendom, the really ancıent world of Greek and Roman sıtes, the really, really ancıent world of mythıcal Troy, and of course the Turkey of today--Istanbul full of trams, taxıs, carpet sellers, and even belly dancers.

But I'm gettıng ahead of myself ın the story. We started here at the Blue Mosque, or Sultan Amed Mosque. The pıcture ıs of us tryıng to fıgure out how to get ın, where to put or shoes, and ıf our respectıve shoulders were approprıately covered. If you want to see what ıt looks lıke--ıt ıs breathtakıng--just wıkıpedıa, my frıends.

The flag above ıs the Turkısh flag and one of the sıx mınarets ıs ın the background. It was buılt ın 1616 ın an attempt to out-do the last huge mosque and ıt ıs truly ımmense. We went ın the tourıst entrance and were gıven a bag to put our shoes ın as we went ınsıde. If you don't have a headscarf they wıll provıde one. Insıde, people were kneelıng and prayıng as we tourısts gawked at the blue ıznıc tıle whıch gıves the mosque ıts nıckname.

Cıao for now