Blog Entry Three So my hotel in Sultanahmet is right around the corner from the Hippodrome, a huge outdoor space that was used to host chariot races back in the day (much the Circus Maximus in Rome). But unlike the Circus Maximus (which remains a ruin), the Hippodrome has been restored into a public gathering space, anchored at one end by two ancient obelisks ... on Egyptian, one Ottoman. Adjacent to the Hippodrome is the Blue Mosque, the second largest mosque in the world. It is called the Blue Mosque because of the famous mosaics inside the mosque, which are made from largely blue ceramic tile. The mosque boasts six minarets (which are the cylindrical towers located outside mosques ... they are roughly analogous to Christian church steeples). When the Sultan commissioned the Blue Mosque in
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