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Published: October 18th 2014
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Day 4 -- October 12 (Sunday) -- Today was a busy, busy day. We visited The Blue Mosque with the 6 beautiful Minerets, just outside of our hotel. It is called The Blue Mosque because of the beautiful blue tiles inside but frankly, we have seen nicer tiles elsewhere (later in the trip, at some smaller mosques). This mosque is HUGE and we got to go inside for the tour. It was built in 1609-1616 by Sultan Ahmet I. We also visited the Hagia Sophia, "the church of the Divine Wisdom". We can definitely understand why our brother-in-law, Michael Bleday, who recently passed away, loved visiting Turkey and this former Greek Orthodox Church. It was completed in AD 537 and is an architectural wonder. It was home of the Greek Orthodox Church for almost a thousand years until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 when Mehmet the Conqueror claimed it for Islam. It served as a mosque until 1934 when Kemal Ataturk turned it into a museum. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We spent a couple hours in the afternoon at a small village called Eyup, on the other side of the Bosporus. This was a fascinating visit
as it is a community of Muslims who still follow the faith and traditions of time gone by. We were able to mingle with families in this small village, spending time in the town square. The mosque was busy with 2 funerals, the services well attended with the towns people coming to pay their respects. I will include pictures of the hearse which is like a green flat bed truck. Men carried the coffins into the mosque.
Even more interesting were the young boys with their families. Proudly walking in the town square, dressed in royal white robes, fancy white shoes and carrying a staff. We saw one baby in a carriage equally dressed and talked with his parents who agreed with us that his age was more appropriate for the occassion. Also, boys of 4 - 7 or 8 years old. Why were they dressed like this and so happy? It is their BIG event -- tomorrow (or soon), they will be circumcised and this is the family celebrating the event. The boys receive gifts of toys. We seriously doubt if they knew what was coming as they were so very proud, and happy. The circumcision is performed
in a hospital and with pain killers, according to Erol. He told us of his experience. He overheard his parents and grandparents talking about it. Then, one day after school, they said they wanted him to come with them into a private room to "examine him". He was 7 and knew what was up -- took off running, climbed a backyard fence but got his 2nd leg stuck. He was caught and you know the rest of the story. Be sure to check out the pictures.
We spent time in the early evening walking up and down Istiklal Street. It is like no other street. I can not compare it to NY's 5th Ave. or to Chicago's Miracle Mile. The street is very busy, no cars and is kind of a mixture of fancy shops plus vendors and bars, night clubs, restaurants, mosques etc. It is a great place to people watch. The architecture was also interesting. We stopped for beer, Raki, and tea. Our guide grew up in the city and spent lots of time there during his teen and college days. Many of the elite (rich) citizens live in homes and apartments in this area. The mall
area is where the recent demonstrations were held in Istanbul.
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