Turkey! More specifically Istanbul! YAY!
Ok, so those of you who know me are aware of the mostly irritating event when I start rattling off historical information about a subject that I know a lot about until someone tells me to stop of I have forgotten what I was going to say.
Now, Imagine you are in a city with me that has so much interesting historically relevant buildings that every time I see one I start talking.
That was Istanbul. Thanks to all of the history courses I have taken in my life time, my research project into Sacred Space (The Haggai Sophia, ya I went there) and all of the random books I have read, Istanbul was the Middle Eastern version of the first time I walked into the Smithsonian American History Museum. I could have died I was so happy.
The one down fall of the city (which really was not a down fall in all reality) was the number of mosques located in a square mile. There were mosques everywhere. They were large and beautiful and loud. Also, none of the mosques coordinated their clocks so in a twenty minute span, five times a day the call to prayer could be heard. I was so lucky to be staying in a hotel next to one of these mosques and sometimes it was so loud the windows shook.
The one down fall of the city (which really was not a down fall in all reality) was the number of mosques located in a square mile. There were mosques everywhere. They were large and beautiful and loud. Also, none of the mosques coordinated their clocks so in a twenty minute span, five times a day the call to prayer could be heard. I was so lucky to be staying in a hotel next to one of these mosques and sometimes it was so loud the windows shook.
As a whole, it was wonderful. The speakers each had very interesting points to say about the government, the Arab Spring, and religion just to name a few topics we covered.
For such a large city, it was relatively easy to get around. Heck I could go from Europe to Asia in like ten minutes it was easy (If you didn't know Istanbul sits on the Bosporus Straights, a water way that divides the continent of Europe and the continent of Asia from each other)
The picture is of the bridge that connects the two continents. It reminded me of the Bay Bridge on a fall afternoon because it was A)cold B)gloomy and C) rainy
For such a large city, it was relatively easy to get around. Heck I could go from Europe to Asia in like ten minutes it was easy (If you didn't know Istanbul sits on the Bosporus Straights, a water way that divides the continent of Europe and the continent of Asia from each other)
The picture is of the bridge that connects the two continents. It reminded me of the Bay Bridge on a fall afternoon because it was A)cold B)gloomy and C) rainy
I went into the Haggai Sophia and Father Chris would be so proud that I remembered everything that I learned in the early church history class.
We went into the Blue Mosque, which is impressive but when you realize that Ottomans tried to make it bigger than the Haggai Sophia and had to use huge pillars to prevent the dome from falling in, it makes the Haggai Sophia way more cool.
One more thing before I end this piece, all of us girls went to the Turkish Baths, and let me tell you, that was an experience! A story better told over a nice glass of sun tea (because it will be sun tea weather when I get back!)
keep on the look out for parts 3 and 4!
peace and love
We went into the Blue Mosque, which is impressive but when you realize that Ottomans tried to make it bigger than the Haggai Sophia and had to use huge pillars to prevent the dome from falling in, it makes the Haggai Sophia way more cool.
One more thing before I end this piece, all of us girls went to the Turkish Baths, and let me tell you, that was an experience! A story better told over a nice glass of sun tea (because it will be sun tea weather when I get back!)
keep on the look out for parts 3 and 4!
peace and love
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