Turkey! (the country not the food)

First, Thanks to everyone who is reading and keeping up with me. I enjoy receiving the comments but unfortunately cannot reply. Miss y'all and love you!

Today I went on a city orientation because Istanbul is ginormous! 13 million people in the city, which is the largest city we have been to yet. The tour was great! We saw many places on my list to see and had an amazing tour guide. We went to the Hagia Sophia museum, which was built as a Greek orthodox church then converted into a mosque and then converted into a museum. The architecture was beautiful and it was astonishing that it was built in less than 6 years especially since it is a very old building.

We also went to the blue mosque which was huge and beautiful! It's interesting being in Turkey during Ramadan, I feel weird eating because locals aren't eating. They also have special public places set up for people to break their fast. Anyway, the blue mosque has that name because the inside is "blueish" but I didn't think the inside was very blue, but all the people dressed inappropriately had to cover with blue fabric. I actually like wearing the scarf covering my hair. I feel respectful and glad to embrace this culture, the previous countries were similar to home unlike Turkey.

We went to another mosque that was designed by Sinan who is a famous architect. It was a simple mosque. A young man was training to become a imam and was practicing his readings. Listening to this was my favorite part of the day. He has to have a large lung capacity because he recited passages for log periods without breathing. I learned alot about mosques today and how they need to be decorated in the inside. I was also surprised by stained glass in the mosques.

We went to an old Roman Cistern which use to hold water from the aqueducts. The cistern is filled with columns, random columns that were being reused from other roman cities that had been deserted. It was interesting to see the many styles and parts a pieces of the different columns. It was a gorgeous place! It was peaceful and would be beautiful location for a wedding.

I really enjoyed Istanbul today! The weather wasn't too bad either. Tonight my friends and I are going to a cafe getting desserts and coffee and relaxing for the night. Tomorrows plans might include a Turkish bath and the spice market and the taskim tower. We will see where life takes me :)