Tiffany with the Blue Mosque. We left SLC at 11am on the 5th and arrived in Istanbul at 9am on the 6th, so we had a full day minus any showers or anything! We don't look half bad considering!
An ornate fountain in the hippodrome. It was once considered a duty of the Ottoman state to provide a place where the townspeople can get water and sherbets, so there are many ornate fountains everywhere.
Here's Brad at Aya Sophia. It was definitely one of our favorites! It was inaugurated by Emperor Justinian in 537! Then the Ottomans converted it into a mosque and now it is a museum.
Tiffany at the Mihrab, the niche which indicates the direction of Mecca
The Sultan's Loge
Brad at the Minbar, which is kind of like a pulpit
On our way upstairs at Aya Sophia. It was surprising because Aya Sophia is so grand, but to go upstairs, you have to go through these tunnels
Tiffany at the Gates of Heaven and Hell
The mosaics at Aya Sophia date from around the 9th century. This one is called the deesis mosaic and shows the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, and Christ
Mosaic of the Virgin with Emperor John II Comnenus and Empress Irene
Mosaic of Christ with Emperor Constantine IX Momomachus and Empress Zoe
This is a really blurry picture of the dome. Brad wants everyone to see it though because if you count the stories using the scaffolding, this picture shows seven stories up to the top of the dome, taken from the upper level of the building. It really is enormous.
Mosaic of the Virgin with Constantine, who presents her with Constantinople, and Justinian, who presents her with Aya Sophia.
The ablutions fountain at Aya Sophia, where muslims worshippers used to go to wash their feet as part of their worship
The Basilica Cistern, build in 532 under Justinian. When the Ottomans took Constantinople, they didn't know of it's existence for a long time until they discovered townspeople getting water and fish out of their basements.
Brad with a Medusa head in the Basilica Cistern. There are two Medusa heads, one upside down, and the other tilted to the side. The Byzantines used to put the head of Medusa in very important buildings as a protection.
Brad in the Hippodrome. There's not really a lot left of it, but the road around it almost exactly follows the chariot racing track. Constantine adorned the center of the track with obelisks and columns to add grandeur.
The Egyptian Obelisk in the Hippodrome was built in 1500 BC and stood outside of Luxor until Constantine brought it to the Hippodrome. They think that it's only one third it's original height
The serpentine column in the hippodrome, used to have three snakes heads until a drunken polish man knocked them off in the 18th century. Behind is the Column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus which is said used to be covered in bronze, but it's really dilapidated now because young soldiers used to test their bravery by climbing it.
Blue Mosque
Another Ornate Fountain outside the grounds of Topkapi Palace
Gateway to Topkapi Palace
Tiffany inside the Blue Mosque
Interior pictures of the Blue Mosque. Some are really blurry, obviously because we didn't use flash. It's called the Blue Mosque because the interior is covered with blue tiles.
View from breakfast
Brad at Topkapi Palace, home of the Ottoman Sultans for 400 years.
These first pictures are from our tour of the Harem, which is where all the women and royal family lived.
Courtyard of the Eunuchs. Where the Eunuchs lived.
Courtyard of the Concubines. Concubines were brought in from all over the empire. There were usually thousands. Many of them had aspirations to become a favorite of the Sultan, have a baby with him to then become one of his wives, and then maybe for one of their sons to become sultan and move up the ladder to become mother of the sultan, the most powerful woman in the Harem. Since there were thousands of them, however, most didn't move beyond waiting upon other women of the the harem and lived out their lives as little more than slaves.
Apartments of the Mother of the Sultan
The Bathroom
A gathering area where the Sultan can get together for special occasions with his mother and wives.
Really beautiful inlaid woodwork
Courtyard of the wives of the Sultan, concubines that have borne him children
The imperial council chambers at Topkapi (not in the harem)
The throne room
The library. We couldn't take pictures but the treasury at Topkapi was amazing! We saw the 86 carat spoonmakers diamond, the Topkapi Dagger, thrones, diamond accented chain mail, and all sorts of amazing treasures.
Also at Topkapi, and we weren't allowed to take pictures of these either, there is the pavilion of the holy mantle where some of the holiest relics of Islam are displayed. We saw the staff of Moses, the sword of David, and the arm bones of John the Baptist. There was also the mantle and the banner of the prophet Mohammed, beard hairs of Mohammed, a foot print of Mohammed, and keys to the Kabaa in Mecca.
This is the circumcision pavilion
Brad at the Archeology Museum. He's standing by the Porphyry Sarcophagi which date from the 4th and 5th centuries and are thought to have held the early Byzantine Emperors
The Alexander Sarcophagus
Karaman Mihrab
Tiles from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon
The Proverbs book
The Treaty of Kadesh, the world's earliest known peace treaty, from 1269 BC
Brad at Dolmabahce Palace, where the Ottoman Sultans moved in the 1850s. It's very European and very extravagant. Apparently as the Ottoman Empire was declining, the sultans took out lots of loans to build a palace ridiculously oppulent so it wouldn't look like their empire was on the decline.
Crystal Candleholders
The Crystal staircase
Gold ceiling
The sultan's bath, made entirely of egyptian alabastar marble
The ballroom
The aquaduct
These next pictures are from our Whirling Dervishes show. There isn't great lighting because flash wasn't allowed. The show started with some music and then the sema.
Whirling Dervishes are sufis, they are Islamic mystics, and the whirling ceremony is a religious ceremony
From our information sheet: Just as the moon and planets revolve both around their own axes and also around the sun, the semazens revolve while circling the chamber. The sema is a means for humans to reach Divine Reality! It is an intoxication of the soul! During the first cycle of the Sema the dervishes are viewing all the worlds. In this way they reach the grandeur and majesty of God. The lovers are freed from doubt and testify their faith in the Unity of God. In the second cycle their whole existence is dissolved within this Divine Unity. During the third cycle the lovers cleanse themselves and reach the level of maturity. In the fourth cycle they arrive at the junction of non-existence within Divine Existence.
Tiffany at Chora Church, known for it's mosaics and frescoes dating from the 1300s
It's not a very good picture, but this dome is a genealogy of Christ
Brad by the old city walls of Constantinople
Eyup Sultan Mosque. This is the tomb of Eyup Ensari who was Mohammad's standard bearer. It's a very religious place.
Tiffany drinking "sprite". It tasted like bubble gum
Brad at Pierre Loti Cafe, you walk through a cemetery to get there, it's located right on the outskirts. But it's at the top of a hill which has great views of the Golden Horn, which is the name given to this stretch of land in Istanbul along the river
The spice bazaar
Rustem Pasa Mosque, built Rustem Pasa, Grand Vizier and son in law of Suleyman I. He was corrupt and salted away a lot of money to lavishly decorate his mosque
Blue Mosque illuminated at night
The Grand Bazaar. Haggling over prices was actually a good time!
Tiffany's trip to the hospital in Istanbul! She was sick for most of the trip and finally asked where she can see a doctor. They led us to the Business hospital where we could get a consultation for fairly inexpensive. In the great tradition of hospitals going overboard, a blood test, a urine test, a chest x-ray, and $70 later, they released her with a diagnosis of "common cold". Awesome. Back at home, the doctor diagnosed her with a sinus infection AND bronchitis!
The Bosphorus is a strait that divides Istanbul between the European and Asian continents and runs from the sea of Marmara, and the Black Sea. We took a little boat ride on the Bosphorus to enjoy the views of Istanbul.
Dolmabahce Palace
The Bosphorus Bridge, the ninth largest suspension bridge in the world
The fortress of asia, built by the Ottomans to defend Istanbul from the Venetians who were looking to expand their territories.
The Fortress of Europe, built by Mehmet the Conquerer to take Constantinople from the Byzantine Empire. It cut off a major Byzantine supply route
Flag of Turkey
Tiffany at Ephesus
We loved that the ruins were so accessible. You could climb in and around, over and through everywhere!
The fountain of Pollius
Tiffany at the gate of Hercules
Brad at the Fountain of Trajan
The Temple of Hadrian
The Terrace Houses are still being excavated. While we were there, there was a project going on to restore a room that was paneled in marble. There were four or five men whose job was to sit there and piece together over 120,000 marble fragments!
The frescoes and mosaics in their original places were amazing!
Brad on the latrine
The Celsius Library was amazing! Pictures do not do the beauty of the marble justice.
This archway was built by two men alone! They were slaves who worked out a deal with some authority, that they would gain their freedom if they built an archway honoring the authority's family.
Brad in the large theatre. It was built to accommodate 25,000 people! We learned that you can estimate the size of a roman city from the size of it's theatre. They tried to make the theatre so it could hold 1/10th of the city's population. From that we can estimate that Ephesus was home to around 250,000 people.
The port street with the theatre in the background
Brad with a hill that Paul may or may not have been imprisoned on. It just said a hill in the distance, it didn't say which one so we guessed.
The Church of Mary. In the 400s, this church was proclaimed to be the center of Christianity
Baptistry in the Church
The baptistry for adults. We thought it was neat because it looks a lot like ours today.
Mary's house. Apparently there are two contrasting theories about where the Virgin Mary died. One says she died in Jerusalem, the other says she died in Ephesus. In the gospels it says that the Savior entrusted the care of his mother to John, who went to live in Ephesus between 37 and 48 AD. The existence of the church of Mary in Ephesus is also a factor. Apparently at the time of the building of the Basilica in Ephesus, it was canonic law that it can only be dedicated to a Saint if they had lived there. Anyway, we visited the house of Mary the Mother of Jesus where she may or may not have lived and died. We couldn't take pictures inside the house. It was very simple. There were gifts in the house given by three popes.
The outside of the house
Brad at Pamukkale, a thermal springs. It's also known as "cotton castle" because of the white deposits left by the water. This was one of our favorite days in Turkey! Unfortunately was had to take a bus 3 hours each way from Ephesus and the schedule of the buses left us all of 2.5 hours to explore Pamukkale and Hierapolis
The antique pool. It was perfectly warm for a dip! You get to swim among the roman ruins. Brad's favorite was a suspended column he could swim under.
The ruins of Hierapolis, a roman spa town built on the thermal springs of Pamukkale
Brad with his favorite column he could swim under
The Antique Pool, it's said that Cleopatra used to bathe in this same pool!
Hierapolis
The Pamukkale Travertines
We had to walk up to Hierapolis barefoot through the travertines. This picture shows most of our route
St. John's Church in Selcuk (Ephesus)
A beautiful view!
The tomb of St. John....Oops! They must have forgotten that Jesus told John he could live forever.
The Citadel by the ruins of the church of St. John
The ruins of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It used to have 127 columns.
Brad dwarfed by the last remaining column of the temple of artemis
Our afternoon on the Aegean Sea
Brad wanted this picture because our hotel is right behind the columns. It had a great location right by the ruins of St. John's church
