Our final day in glorious Istanbul started bright and early in the middle of another snow fury (not storm, because it wasn't sticking or heavy, it was just windy). Our first stop was the Blue Mosque, or Sultanahmet. You can see this mosque from most of the places we visited in the city (and from our hotel across the harbor!). The inside is beautiful! The detail is astonishing. Since Islam doesn't use images of people in mosques, the motifs of choice are flowers, calligraphy, and verses from the Koran. I took so many pictures!
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Blue Mosque, with a dusting of snow. Who woulda thought?
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Courtyard of the mosque. We had to take our shoes off and wear these plastic feet coverings, probably more to protect our feet in the wet and snow than anything else.
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This is the floor pattern in the courtyard. Random, but I thought the way they use geometry is pretty cool.
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Me in the Blue Mosque!
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Better view of the main area, which is reserved for praying. If you visit they have part of the floor blocked off for visitors, but the rest is reserved for people who want to pray there.
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I took so many pictures of details--verses from the Koran, ceiling decorations and tiles are all in this one picture!
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Again, I liked the details, like the carved section on the balcony and the pointing of the arches.
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I decided to put the Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace as two separate posts, otherwise this would turn into a super-post!
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