A Tribute to Mr. Benedict: The Hagia Sophia & Blue Mosque

After the whole spa thing and then a wonderful night of sleep, we woke up and climbed to the roof to enjoy the free Turkish breakfast provided by our hostel. From the roof of our hostel we could not only look out over the Bosporus river but could see the spires of the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. It was amazing. We watched the sun rise in the sky and decided to head out about an hour later. We thought the Hagia Sophia might be a good idea to cover early because it costs money to get into and we wanted to beat the crowds. WOW…first off for those of you who have never seen the Hagia Sophia (or the Blue Mosque for that matter) it looks straight out of Star Wars. Think firstly, a freaking huge building, both in size and in the generally presence of the building itself. Then think of the main dome, which is about the size of a very large house all on its own, suspended in the sky. This was for a centuries the tallest dome in the world. Under these are a bunch of smaller domes about the size of mobile homes. They are supported by large buttress type dealios, but for those of you who are going to be picky they aren’t quite as harsh, think more arch and less…butt. Hehehehe. All of this is supported by giant walls that are a reddish type color and tower over the square. And then you actually go in.

First off you should remember to breathe. If you are at all interested in Islamic style decoration, Byzantine architecture, or any kind of mosaic art, you have to go here. It isn’t even a suggestion, you just have to. The walls shoot straight up to the domes, the domes are covered in golden Arabic. There are also four large circles with Arabic writing. Had I had enough money for a tour I am sure I could tell you what they mean, and how they are important historically…but I didn’t, so you should just go look it up on google or something. The structure is also supported by giant Corinthian columns that are simply stunning. On the far end of the amazingly large room is a dome that has on it a partial mosaic of Virgin Mary holding the Christ child and next to her on another dome is an even more partial mosaic of Arch Angel Gabriel. What is really interesting is that other than a couple of mosaics on the second level, there is very little Christian art left over on the walls of the Hagia Sophia, some of you might think: of course there is no Christian art, it is a big mosque like building. But the fact is, is that the Hagia Sophia used to be Saint Sophia and was at one point the third largest Catholic church in the world. If you look carefully under the delicately constructed swirls of Islamic art you will see crosses that have been painted over. It is really cool…and I am such a geek.
I could go on forever but there is this other really awesome building across the courtyard I am now going to tell you about.


The Blue Mosque is an equally stunning building situated about a football fields length away from the Hagia Sophia. This is a working mosque (the Hagia used to be until it was turned into a museum and there is currently debate going on to switch it back) and when you enter you do so with those going to practice their faith. Once you are in the courtyard you are separted into two groups; practicing Muslims and visitors. Visitors wait in line while reading signs in five different languages about proper behavior within the mosque. Women must cover their heads, wear skirts that hit their ankles and have their upper arms and shoulders covered. Those that don’t meet these standards are given large bolts of blue cloth in order to cover themselves to the point that is proper. I have to say I was a little pleased with myself about the fact that I wasn’t stopped or given more cloth. Then again I was wearing a skirt that hit the floor, a long sleeve black shirt and had a head scarf in my bag.

After taking off your shoes you enter the mosque and then you eyes explode in your head because the mosaics covering the walls are so complicated and so immense that you don’t even know how it is possible that things like this exist. The walls and domes are all covered from head to toe (much like me) in blue and red flowers and swirls and patterns that look like someone quilted the walls. It…I can’t even…you just have to go. The pictures don’t even come close to getting it right. People watching in the Blue is fabulous. You see women in headscarves, women in burqa, women with the blue cloth covering their head, and then the best group of people, women who have been given cloth to cover themselves, get past the guards and then remove it. If you are a person like this, you better not travel with me…ever. I will not only bite your head off about it, but I will simply refuse to go anywhere with you. It is not appropriate, it is not okay, and if you give that much of a crap that you “look good” in a holy place of worship you should go to the bazaar and wear your tank top and mini skirt over there, don’t even come to the mosque. Okay, I am done Anyway, I sat and watched people and thought and observed how the women in the prayer areas were praying and then attempted to mimic them and offered up a prayer of my own. Don’t get me wrong, I love big cathedrals that Christian’s tend toward, but I think we should take a page from mosques and do the whole mosaic/ dome thing. I don’t think Jesus would mind.

Wow, this post is going to go on forever…if you are still reading I am mildly impressed and I am going to make sure the pictures I pick are really cool so you have something to look at.

Then we went over to the archeological museum and I was like a kid in a candy shop looking around at all of the sculptures and awesome art and Roman and Greek and Hellenistic period amazingness. It rocked, I got to see mosaics from the Ishtar Gate…yeah you know you are jealous. The Istanbul archeological museum is one of three that holds dragon panels from the original. I am hoping to get to Berlin in order to see the entire gate, but we will see if I run out of money before then. Speaking of that, just checked in on my account balances and I need to slow my roll…for reals. Then again I don’t really plan on buying ANY souvenirs in Belgium, mostly because Turkey is cooler and more different, so that might help a little.

I am going to pause here, because this post is getting entirely too long and I need to break it up a little bit; might do a food post next or something so the blog doesn’t look so damn dense. Hope this post finds everyone well. Thanks for tuning in!

~Claire

p.s. Wanted to let you guys know that you can click on any of these images and see a full view that might be a bit more clear than the mini version I fit into the text. :)