Istanbul #2of2

The Süleyman Mosque (Blue Mosque) is huge. Outside there are several domes, and six tall, slender minarets, inside the floor is covered with hundreds and hundreds of rugs, and there are blue and white Iznik tiles everywhere. We had to leave our shoes at the entrance, with hundreds of others.

There is a new bit of blue in the Mosque. A sun-visor I bought in Athens, was lost inside the Blue Mosque. A blue visor, of course. Days could be spent here — but if we spend over 30 minutes here today, we will miss other very important things, including being on our ship when it sails.

The St. Sophia Mosque, originally a Byzantine Christian church, became a mosque in 1453. In 1935 the Turkish government declared it a museum. The dome is so large that building engineers say it can’t be built, and will not stay in one piece if it were. Columns for the interior were brought from temples at Baalbek, Heliopolis, Ephesus and Delphi.

These two huge mosques are next to each other, but the buildings and the grounds around them must cover a square mile. It’s difficult to describe, “enormous” will just have to do.

Near St. Sophia Mosque there’s a city block or so of wooden town-houses that look a little like they belong in San Francisco, originally built by an English Company, for their workers. The buildings have been remodeled, and now serve as a hotel. We went to visit Topkapi, the huge palace where 4,000 people once lived and worked. Not nearly as interesting as many of the castles and palaces we have seen in Northern Europe.

We walked to the Grand Bazaar and spent a couple of hours walking and talking to people, and buying this and that. Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar includes miles of cobblestoned passages lined with tiny shops. Over 4,000 stores line dozens of little streets, all under a large roof. Emmy was shocked to see how hard the laborers had to work to move giant carts loaded to overflowing with carpets, clothes, pots and pans, and the other thousands of products that are sold in Istanbul’s huge market.

While Emmy would look for things to buy, I would look for a place to sit and work on the awful ache in my back, in the muscle just above my wallet. (True.) I thought it must be from reaching for it so often. Emmy thinks the soreness is because my wallet muscle just hasn’t been exercised enough.