Sultanahmet Camii (Sultan Ahmed Mosque)

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Day 9:

It has finally arrived, the day you have all been waiting for, the day we visited the infamous Blue Mosque and Ayasophia of Istanbul. Now it has only taken two highly educated individuals nine days, but we finally figured out the shortest route with a smaller grade of hill that takes us to the metro. This is only because we decided to walk to Sultanahmet region today.

It was 0900 hrs and the heat was already making its presence felt. As we walked through the entrance of the Blue Mosque we realized that it is the only mosque in Istanbul with six minarets. For those unfamiliar with what a minuet is, it is the the pointed towers that you see surrounding the mosques in the pictures we have taken. They are where the calls to prayer emanate from. As we pass into the second courtyard we get a view of the main domes in all their glory. If you have been really paying attention to the blog entries thus far you will have probably guessed the other thing that we were quick to notice; a long line up to get in. What can one expect, when you think Istanbul as a western tourist, Blue Mosque is one of the first things to pop in your mind as a place to visit and it is free to enter because it is still an active mosque and not a museum. We start to stand in line and as luck would have it there was no shade to be had.

We figured this line was going to take about 45 minutes to get us in the entrance until a little man came up and asked us if we wanted a guide. Our first thought is that we were okay looking around ourselves but then he said the magic words; "you won't have to wait in line!" Off we went to the front of the line where we took off our shoes and entered the Blue Mosque. I know I promised a picture of Momma Bear in a scarf but when we entered the Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque is a touristic nickname, not its actual name) with a practicing Muslim for a tour guide he forgot to make her put one on. As mentioned, the Blue Mosque is a name that tourists gave this mosque due to the blue tiles that line the gallery wall. If you were to walk down the street asking for directions to the "Blue Mosque" very few locals would have any idea what you are talking about, they may even get the impression that you had one too many puffs on the water pipe. To the locals the official name is Sultanahmet Mosque as our tour guide informed us. The structure itself can only best be explained in pictures; however, there are three things I feel are really neat points of information. First of all, the Ottoman Empire (which originated in Mongolia) allows there woman to pray in the mosque which is forbidden in some other Muslim cultures. They are still not allowed to pray on the same level as the men. The women pray in the gallery above while the men pray on the main floor. As many of you know, it is Muslim tradition to pray facing the East. One cool thing about the mosque is it enables even the directionally challenged to face the right direction. If you look at the floral pattern titled "Prayer Rug" you will see near the bottom of the picture two round spots where your feet are to go. Next you will see to floral patterns above that to put your knees and then as the picture comes to an apex that is where your head goes. Friday is the holy day for Muslims, a day in which over 2000 people congregate to the Sultanahmet Mosque to pray. The second thing I wish to mention is my arachnophobia. The Muslims and I get along very well on one concept in particular, a dislike of spiders. They would hang three ostrich eggs from the roof of the mosque because the coating (for a reason I have yet to understand) apparently repels the little eight legged devils. They also believed that they added something acoustically to the mosque. (A replica of which can be purchased, hanging mechanism included, for a mere 450 TL or $270.) Thirdly I would like to mention the Elephant Feet. This is the name given to the four pillars which hold up the main dome of the mosque. These pillars are made of solid marble which is nothing different from other mosques in the area but other mosques don't have pillars anywhere close to these dimensions. To put things in perspective, four six foot men could lie on the floor head to toe and still not be as wide as these massive columns were. The pillars had a circumference of 25 meters (83.33 ft), a diameter of almost 8 meters (~26.67 ft), and a height of approximately 35 meters (116.67 ft). Now you know why they are called Elephant Feet!!! Did I mention that these columns are solid marble and are the primary reason that the Blue Mosque didn't succumb to massive earthquakes like Ayasophia did.

Okay, I lied, I have a little more than three things to say regarding our visit to the Sultanahmet Mosque. It took 3000 workers during the day, used for its construction, and 3000 workers at night, used to bring the marble to the construction site, just over 7 years to complete the mosque. Not surprising given the era and the enormity of the project at hand.

There was a lot we learned from our little guide including this little tidbit of information regarding the five pillars of the Muslim religion. The first pillar is that each Muslim must go to Mecca once in their life (the largest mosque in the world located in Saudi Arabia). The second pillar is that they must pray five times a day. The third is that they must give to charity. The fourth is that they must donate to the poor. The fifth and final pillar is that they must give 10% of their income to the mosque. If a practicing Muslim accomplishes all five of these pillars then they are considered perfect. I couldn't figure out if the Muslim religion has an equivalent to Christianity's ten commandments but I know that these five pillars are what is expected of many christian churches in order for one to be closer to God.

For the two of us it cost 45 TL ($27) for the guide but considering that an audio guide would have been 10 TL each we chalked up the 25 TL extra as an investment to our mental health and the mental and physical health of those around us. It just isn't good for anybody for us to stand in direct heat for an extended period of time.

I have made a decision based solely on the fact that I am tired of typing right now; you have to wait for the next blog entry to here about Ayasophia.

Until next time,

"Keep fit and have fun!"

(Those my generation and older should recognize this quote; if you don't I have no idea what planet you were on for the last two decades of the 20th century but I have two words for you, BODY BREAK! Google it!!!)

Corey and Terri

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Comments

[Aunt Cathie]

Interesting...
Where they minarets or minuets? And who were the two highly educated people you were traveling with? ;) Very interesting stuff...