Ayasofya

The title is a bit misleading because I did much more than visit the Hagia Sofia today. However, it was the highlight because it is one of the few places I planned to go before I left the States. The visit was in honor of Misa who has studied and gained a great appreciation for it.

From the beginning... this city is huge. Pınar and I rode the bus for what must have been almost an hour before arriving in the vicinity of the mosque/museum know as the Hagia Sofia or Ayasofya to the Turks. There were many subtle things I enjoyed about riding through town such as trying to understand the advertisements and signs on the buildings, the people on the bus looking at me when they heard me speaking English, and just experiencing the feel of the city again. The smell of chestnuts roasting on a streetvendor's stove, the touristy shops, "gevrek" (crispy) simit (bagelly thing) stands, sipping ayran and eating köfte in a café. Well I am getting dreamy and carried away.

We walked a distance from the bus stop to the Hagia Sofia <-- (that's a link with photos). After going through security and paying the fee, we walked around part of the exterior of the building. It was already apparent that a lot of retoration work is currently being done on it. There were guys climbing all over a makeshift wooden scaffolding high on one side of the structure. Not a bad day for it-- the weather was pushing 65 F in the sun. We walked inside where the air was very cool. The sheer enormity the place was overwhelming at first. High archways and beatiful artwork captured our attention even as we stood in the entryway. We walked to the middle where there was a huge metal scaffolding going all the way up to the ceiling (shown right). The restoration work did not take away from the beauty and grandeur of the place. This building was a Christian church, then it became a mosque, and finally it was turned into a museum. I like that the Turks maintain it for everyone to appreciate. On that note, I had never seen so many foreigners in Turkey. A British man looked around and then saw me. I wasn't the closest person to him but I realized that was the closest one who looked like I knew English. He asked me if I wouldn't taking a picture of him and his wife as he handed me his camera. I happily did so. Even though I speak English most of the time here, it seemed strange to speak it with a native speaker.

We went upstairs, although there weren't any stairs. Rather, there a huge ramp made of large smooth stones that wound endlessly upward. The upper level consists of a large gallery of photographs and artwork in addition to the visual impressiveness of the walls themselves. Another thing I should mention is that there were large groups of young schoolchildren everywhere. I thought how lucky are they to go to a place like this for a field trip.

When we left, we walked to the park that sits between the Hagia Sofia and the Sultan Ahmet (big mosque that I went to last time). It is marked by a large fountain. There we discussed what to do next. We decided to have lunch. I had köfte and ayran. We sat next to the window on the second floor where we could see the train and the people below. I had asked Pınar the day before what the word "saray" meant because I forgot and she said she would take me to one (rather than just tell me the meaning). So we walked in the direction of a nearby saray. We passed by some shops that I had seen before. Hanging above the door of one of the shops was a sign that I found to be especially amusing.

We arrived at the saray. Saray I learned means "palace". This one I had been to before but not inside. Topkapı is the name of the p(a)lace. As you might imagine it just gleamed with artwork and treasure. However, a lot of the places inside forbade the use of photography, so I do not have a many of photos of the artifacts. Still, I put some pictures below.