Turkey Trip: 6th and Final Day

Our final day in Turkey was fun--we made our way back to Istanbul but first stopped at Iznik (which is ancient Nicea):

This gate points toward Istanbul

I am wearing my "Istanbul" t-shirt

Dr. Batman Jackson

huddled together because it was FREEZING

oh Lindsay...

we were grouped together as Dr. J talked to us about the ecumenical councils that began at Nicea.

Dr. Batman (notice his hood...)

Lake Iznik

We finally made our way back to Istanbul to see the Hagia Sophia!

remains of the second Hagia Sophia (the church/mosque has been rebuilt many times)

washing stations from when the Hagia Sophia was used as a mosque

The women's prayer area--on the balcony of the church

such a beautiful building! It originally built as a church, but then was modified to be a mosque when the Ottomans were in charge, and now is a museum.

when the Ottomans made the Hagia Sophia (which means "Holy Wisdom") into a mosque, they plastered over the mosaics, which actually preserved them really well, so now we have some well preserved artwork from the time of Constantine

another picture of the mosaic

such a beautiful church!

this room is where the Ottoman Sultan would come to pray privately

it is so interesting to see elements from a mosque and a church in one building...

the Mihrab (direction of the Kaaba in Mecca which is the direction that Muslims pray)

This pillar has the tradition that if you rub your finger along it, it is good luck or something... there is something about a story about an angel and tears... I can't really remember...

there is a metal case around the pillar to stop people from touching the pillar, but all the people from the past several hundred years have gone right through it, so you can feel an indent into the pillar beneath!

afterwards, we had some free time in Istanbul, and I enjoyed some time with Sarah and Jackie. We went to Starbucks to warm up with some hot chocolate.

Ericha.

The blue mosque by night

I wish we were allowed to go to the Turkish Bath, but we were forbidden... :-(

blue mosque and blue fountain :-)

blue mosque

Hagia Sophia at night

 before we went to the airport, we stopped at a fish restaurant for dinner... it was definitely fish.

Fishy face!

so when we were taking the picture, my fishes head fell off, and this is me trying to catch it while being totally grossed out.

Sarah enjoyed her fish--and even ate the eyeball!

Saying goodbye to Necip at the airport...

Where's Waldo 1 and 2 sat behind me on the plane :-)

Camilla is ready for our red eye flight back to Tel Aviv

this about sums the night up...

Katie and I figured out that you could call other seats on the plane from your seat... that was fun...

we all felt about like this by the time we got back to TLV...

Turkey was INCREDIBLE!!! We all had a blast!

-E