Travelin' Fullers Blog: Final stop-- Istanbul. Then London!

Today was our first cloudy day. Still, it did not dampen our spirits ( in spite of a couple of raindrops!). There was no rain when we walked around the area next to the Four seasons Hotel where we will be tomorrow night. The Four Seasons we are staying in used to be the local prison. Can't tell now! It's lovely inside! We took all luggage off the ship today and dropped it at the Hotel. Bill and Trey took a late afternoon flight out to Cappadocia. I will post his photos tomorrow or the next day.

We spent the afternoon on a walking tour which included a fairly long wait to enter the famous Blue Mosque. There are hordes of people! This is a VERY populated city which has seen its ranks swell a LOT with recent Syrian refugees. It sounds like some of the Turkish people are not too happy with the influx of refugees. The Syrians seem to be causing a small crime wave. They have no jobs and no place to stay....

The famous Blue mosque (actual name is Sultan Ahmed Mosque) was built in 1609-1616. It is nicknamed the "blue Mosque" because of the blue tiles made of Quartz that adorn the interior. You must remove your shoes before entering. The area where you pray must be clean- thus no shoes can walk on the carpet. Muslim men must wash their feet before entering to pray. There are spigots along the outside wall where men sit to wash their feet. Women must pray from the upper level. They are not allowed on the main floor with the men, there are no statues or figures of people displayed inside the Mosque. They have beautifully crafted Arabic caligraphy sayings adorning the walls.

Outside of the Mosque, we saw two ancient Obelisks in the street that used to be where Chariot races were held. One of the Obelisks was brought from Egypt. The engravings on the bottom of the Obelisk show the history of erecting the Obelisk, and it shows people cheering for their Chariot racer guy! The obelisk was originally from The Temple of Karnak in Luxor Egypt and was brought to Constantinople in 392 AD.

Because the Ottomans were originally nomads, they did not have a model for building a mosque. So, they copied the Byzantine Church with its distinctive dome. That is why Mosques have a dome...

Mary and I waited while Bill and Trey visited the underground cisterns. (48 steps down). These cisterns were the subject of the Dan Brown novel , Inferno...

After our walking tour, it was time to say goodbye to the guys as they headed to the airport and Cappadocia. Mary and I made our way through VERY heavy traffic to the theater where we were to see the Whirling Dirvishes. This is an ancient practice of Sema-- a way to honor God. They twirl as they subject their ego and rise to a higher level of "perfection" --a nirvana... There is chanting and prayers. It is a solemn and spiritual show. There is total silence by the viewing audience from beginning to end.

Duffy and I made our way back to the ship after the show to have our farewell dinner.. We have to be out of our room by 8:30 am tomorrow before we meet our guide for another day of touring..

I was here 50 years ago with my parents. We did visit the Blue Mosque, but it was not nearly as crowded back then! There are just thousands of people visiting and you are packed inside to view the Mosque. Everywhere there is an amazing crush of humanity....still, an exotically beautiful city with its hundreds of minarets decorating the sky...