Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Sights I will see this week!!!

So we are off to Istanbul tomorrow.  I am very excited.  The two things I love to seeing most of all (aside from land after an 11+ hour plane ride) is the Hagia Sophia - the Byzantine Church, and the Blue Mosque.  They are both right near our hotel - which is great, we are only in Istanbul about a day and a half.
The Hagia Sophia.  A church from Byzantine times 537 AD.  It was the largest church in the world until the 1600s.
It was converted into a Mosque in the 1400s, when the minarets were added.  In 1931 it became a museum.
.
The Blue Mosque (it's not this blue it is a trick of the light and Photoshop).
Finished in 1616 when Istanbul was the Capital of the Ottoman Empire.