HAGIA SOPHIA!!!! (and other sites)

Feb. 12

Today was easily the best day so far! All of the exchange students went for a tour of the Sultanamet district of Istanbul, which is where many of the historic sites are, including the Blue Mosque, the Sultan's Palace, and of course, the Hagia Sophia!

I am unashamed to say that I have wanted to see the Hagia Sophia since I was probably about 11 or 12 years old. It is one of the architectural wonders of the medieval world! And I am happy to say that I was not disappointed. The outside is of course incredible, but the inside is stunning. It amazes me that any structure completed in 537 AD is still standing, let alone one as massive and beautiful as the Hagia Sophia. Many mosaics and frescoes which were covered over by the Ottomans when they coverted the church into a mosque have been restored. We had about an hour to tour the building, and trust me, I cherished every second of that hour.

After Hagia Sophia, we attempted to go inside the Blue Mosque, which is even larger than the Hagia Sophia, but it was prayer time, so only people there to pray were allowed inside the mosque. Understandable, if I were inside a church, I'd probably not like having a bunch of tourists in the background taking pictures and gawking.

After the Blue Mosque fail, we went to the Sultan's Palace, which was gorgeous, and then to the ancient Byzantine cisterns, and then to the Grand Bazaar. The Grand Bazaar was grand indeed, absolutely huge, and certainly not like any backcountry, outdoors bazaar in Afghanistan. The bazaar is indoors, and the shops are all proper shops, with items ranging in prices from a couple kurus (cents) to a couple thousand lira.

After the Grand Bazaar, the bus took all the exchange students to Ortaköy, another section of the city, where we were all free to get dinner on our own. Unfortunately, the place my friends and I chose to go to was a nargile bar with very expensive food. We would have left once we realized the prices had it not been for the fact that we were seated on the third floor, meaning it would be almost impossible for a group of about 8 young people to sneak out, and our waiter literally stood over us waiting for us to order the second we sat down. We all ordered the cheapests dishes, but unfortunately, the food turned out to be very bland.

The Hagia Sophia in all its glory

After leaving the bar, we stopped at a waffle vendor. All day the Turks had been telling us that we had to get a waffle for dessert, so we were excited to try them. In Turkey, waffles are their version of a hot fudge sundae basically, they make the waffle, and then cover it in toppings. I got mine with chocalate on 1 side, nutella on the other with kiwi, strawberry, and banana on top, but there were literally dozens of options for you to choose to from. It made the entire dinner fiasco not matter.

The inside of the Hagia Sophia

One of the mosaics in Hagia Sophia

The Blue Mosque

Inside the Grand Bazaar

Hagia Sophia again, this time at night

Once we got back to the university, we were all pretty exhausted and went straight to bed. But it was all worth it, and did I mention that I got to see the Hagia Sophia?!