We thought we could visit the most famous mosques in Istanbul today. So we went to see the blue mosque and Hagia Sofia. Unfortunately, the blue mosque is under renovation (both outside and inside) so we couldn’t see much. Hagia Sofia however is magnificent, impressive ! And we are lucky because we arrive right when they are about to start their midday prayer. Côme asks a lot of questions: “Who is singing?”, “Why are they singing?”, “Why do they kiss the ground?”… He is intrigued and is attentive during the entire ceremony.
At lunch, we have our first “touristy” meal of the trip. We are intrigued at the entrance of a restaurant where two women are cooking a traditional crepe: the gözleme. We like the ambiance of the restaurant so we decide to eat there.
Then we have a stroll in a beautiful park, just outside of Topkapi palace and we head to the museum of archaeology. We are really glad we went there and stay for a couple of hours. The collections are beautiful, there are gold coins (and you know how much Côme loves gold and coins), statues of gods and goddesses, sarcophaguses, etc. etc. Côme takes a picture of everything that is shinny (that’s 88 photos!! We hope he will not want us to print them…).
Then we head back to the restaurant with delicious soups and go back home after this long day walking…
Today Côme:
Did not understand: why the tuktuks were driving fast but even faster when we were crossing the street.
Learnt: that dough balls were made flat to make crepes.
Loved: to have seen a human “fossil” (archaeological skeletal remains).
Julia:
Did not understand: why they let us go inside the Blue mosque even though we couldn’t see anything.
Learnt: that women had to pray in a different section of the mosque.
Liked: the interior of Hagia Sofia.
Doo:
Did not understand: why seaguls were fed meat on top of ruins but dogs couldn’t go.
Learnt: ice cream vendors were juggling with the ice cream cone before giving it to the customer.
Liked: our time at the archaeological museum.