And Now for Something Entirely Different

All day Thursday, from just after midnight until 6.30 pm local time, we were on the road from Plymouth to .... Istanbul. The leg from Plymouth to Heathrow terminal 5 took all of 7.5 hours on the bus. Then there was quite a long wait and the usual hassle at the airport before we took off at c.11am for Istanbul. It's a c. 3.5 hour flight plus 2 hour shift in time-zone, so reached there at about 4.30pm. Then we had to buy visas and pass through a woefully undermanned customs, which took ages. Fortunately, our luggage arrived fast thereafter and we were soon in a Taxi en route for the Sultanahmet where our hotel was located. Things went swimmingly at first, but on passing through walls of old Byzantium, the traffic ground to a frustrating halt. It probably took an hour to 'drive' the last 5 km. So all we were good for was a decent meal at a side-walk cafe (Turkish Pide, kababs, and milky yoghurt for most of us) and early to bed.

Yesterday beckoned bright and warm (up to 32C eventually) and we hit the deck walking after a late breakfast at 10am. Our hotel has a roof-top eatery with gorgeous views, so that was no hassle. This is the first of 4 posts (!!) on the successive venues we took in over the space of 8 hours: the blue mosque; the Hagia Sophia, the Topkapi Palace, and the Grand Bazaar. If I keep this up I'll be exhausted! All the destinations mentioned are world class, and all are within about 2km of our hotel. We walked to the lot ... and in all that heat.

So, now to the Blue Mosque, the first of our encounters. The first two pictures show something of the glorious interior of the massive Mosque, which was constructed nearly 400 years ago - a rather 'modern' building compared with its surrounds.

This was the scene at the exit to the Mosque, with many people putting on their shoes and taking off their wraps at the end of the tour. At the start, we were all instructed to remove our footwear (except socks) an covered wd my shorts were inspected for the extent to which they covered such erotic parts of me as my knees! They passed muster, as did Bec who had her shoulders nicely covered with the tails of her headscarf. Max was of no seeming interest as a youngster of just 8.

The first additional picture below shows the exact construction dates.

I do not have a picture of the entrance where we were inspected, but it was much like the one shown below:

For believers, Mosque rituals involve washing one's hands and feet alongside the wall near the entrance in the area shown here:

The area around the Blue Mosque is truly historical with many monuments dating back 1500 years or more.

For example the Obelisk of Theodosius was erected in 390 AD!



We also saw the Egyptian obelisk bought to Byzantium in about 390 AD from Alexandria. By then it was already nearly 1900 years old having first stood in front of temple constructed to honour Pharaoh Tutmosis III!! Then there is the serpent column transferred to its current location by Constantinius I (324-222). To top these off is a massive column of stone dating back to perhaps 400 BC.

So the picture portrayed is one of staggering antiquity into which one Sultan Ahmed I (1603-1617) decided to slot his gargantuan Mosque. The whole assembly works well.

AS