We had a very quick visit to Istanbul to catch up with Sarp and Tugce. Thank you guys very much for hosting us! I think Istanbul is a little off the radar for most Americans, yet it has a history to rival any European city. While there we got to visit the big tourist attractions; Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Grand Bazaar, the Spice Bazaar, and the Basilica Cistern. We also had the opportunity to stroll along the Bosphorus and eat sea bass with the locals.
We eased into our world tour by first going to places with similar languages and cultures. After Scotland, Norway, and Germany, Athens felt a bit more foreign. We no longer looked like we were from there. It was hot and crowded. There were stucco buildings with terra cotta roofs. As foreign as Athens felt, Istanbul felt even more foreign. The government is secular, but the majority of the population is Muslim. In some parts of town, many women wear scarves covering their head, and burkas are not uncommon. The skyline is dotted with the domes and minarets of mosques, and you hear the call to prayer from the loudspeakers 5 times a day. When Jesslyn mentioned that she felt like she might be offending others by leaving her head uncovered, I reminded her to look around. We tend to only notice the things that are different from us. Only about half of the women covered their heads, but it stood out to us, which made it seem very different.
Visiting the Hagia Sophia is a good history lesson of Istanbul. It was built from 532 to 537 AD by the Byzantine (or Eastern Roman) Emperor Justantine I as a Christian church. It has gone through a lot of changes since then. It started as a Greek Orthodox cathedral, then as Roman Catholic cathedral after the Latin Christians took over the city during the Crusades, and then a Muslim mosque when the Ottomans conquered the city. Today it serves as a museum. Some of the mosaics in the walls have been uncovered and restored, so today, you can see both Christian and Muslim art side by side.
Very close by is the Basilica Cistern, which is basically an underground water storage facility. It is impressive at over 100,000 sq. ft. in area and capable of holding 2.8 million cubic ft. of water. It is supported by 336 marble columns. Both of these are engineering marvels for being built 1500 years ago.
If you are interested in European history, you need to check out Istanbul.
Jake