Day 15--An overview of Day 14--Sultanahmet

Hey everyone!

Today was a nice and relaxing day.  We went with the two other IVF couples to a nearby mall and had lunch and then we came back here to the hotel and just rested. Glen read and I played games on my iphone.

Egg Status:  We didn’t end up seeing the doctor today, I just had blood work done. Man, do I feel like a pin cushion with all these needles!  LOL  My estrogen levels rose from yesterday,  which is a good thing, but they aren’t quite high enough to take the eggs just yet.  So they upped my dose of gonal-f to 450 IU and I have another blood test in the morning and a sonogram.  They are thinking that tonight’s dose  will probably be my last dose of the egg stimulating medicine and then tomorrow night  I will take a shot that will help the eggs mature, and then they will take them on Saturday. 

So yesterday was a very fun and amazing day. We fit in a ton of sightseeing.  Since Seyhan is on vacation, she decided to meet up with us for the day and show us around Sultanahmet ( the Old City).  This is where you can find the Blue Mosque,  Topkapi Palace, Ayasofya, and the Bascilica Cistern.   It’s such an amazing area with some  buildings and objects dating back before the time of Jesus!!  It really puts things into perspective how very young our country truly is. 

Glen and I are getting pretty good at getting around now.  So we took on a shuttle that took us right to the edge of the Asian side of Istanbul.  Then we hopped into a Dolmus, which is like a mini van taxi that you pay a cheap rate to go from point A to point B.  It took us to the ferry station, where we met Seyhan at noon.  Then we all took the ferry across to the Asian side to do some historical site seeing.

The first place we went to was the Blue Mosque, but we couldn’t go in because it was prayer time.  The Muslims have prayer time, or Call to Prayer, five times a day.  So we left to come back after prayer time was over.

We then headed over to Ayasofya,  or has our history books call it Hagia Sofia.  It’s just incredible!  A little history lesson:

Hagia Sofia meaning The Church of the Holy Wisdom, is a former Byzantine church and former Ottoman mosque in Istanbul. Now a museum, Hagia Sophia is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest buildings of the world. It first started out as a Church built by Constantine, who was the first Christian Emperor, back in the 5^th century.  The first church was destroyed, the second one was burned down in a riot in 532 and then it was rebuilt in 532-537 where it still stands today.  Hagia Sophia remained a functioning church until May 29, 1453, when Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror entered triumphantly into the city of Constantinople. He was amazed at the beauty of the Hagia Sophia and immediately converted it into his imperial mosque. When the Muslims took over the church they covered all the Christian images with plaster and other such coverings and then added their writings to the walls. In 1934, under Turkish president Kemal Atatürk, Hagia Sofia was secularized and turned into the Ayasofya Museum. The prayer rugs were removed, revealing the marble beneath, but the mosaics remained largely plastered over and the building was allowed to decay for some time. Some of the calligraphic panels were moved to other mosques, but eight roundels were left and can still be seen today.

A 1993 UNESCO mission to Turkey came in and began their restoration of the church by removing the plaster to now reveal the mosaic Christian images of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and other such Christian figures. It’s the only place today that you will find both Muslim and Christian symbols in the same place.

outside - front

one view from inside

view from upstairs

another view from upstairs

cool shot from below showing all the chandelliers

at side entrance/exit

one of the walls on 2nd floor 

By the time we finished seeing Ayasofya, prayer time was over so we headed over to the Blue Mosque. It’s called the Blue Mosque not because it is blue on the exterior, but because of the titles used to cover the ceiling on the inside.  The titles aren’t actually entirely blue.  They are made of various designs, but from way down below the blue color in the tiles is what really stands out and the eye perceives that ceiling to be blue.  Seyhan was saying that it use to seem even more like a sea of blue, because they had blue carpet.  But they have changed the carpets since she was last there a couple years back, and she was not as impressed.

enclosed square adjacent to actual  Blue Mosque (still considered part of the mosque though

The mosque also had parts like this for a library, and other purposes.  

ceiling inside the Blue Mosque

before they enter the mosque to pray, they wash here 

After the Blue Mosque, we headed to the Basilica Cistern which was built in 527, so right around the time of Ayasofya during the Byzantine Empire. The cistern lies underneath the streets of Istanbul.  For over a thousand years, it was used for Istanbul’s main water supply. It consists of low pools of water with big marble columns stretching from the floor to the ceiling.  Below you will see a picture of the head of Medusa used at the base of a column.  Yes, she is suppose to be upside down. In Greek methology, it was thought that if you looked upon Medusa’s face you would turn to stone.  Researchers believe the Medusa heads were just used  as a base, but there are some rumors that say the Medusa heads were put in the cistern for protection, and they were placed upside so that  if you were to gaze upon them you would not be turned to stone!

lots of columns here, these are only a few of them

one of the 2 Medusa heads

WATCH OUT!! you might be turned into stone if you are upside down

After all the sight seeing we headed to the Grand Baazar again.  Seyhan was looking for a gold bracelet for her cousin who is getting married this weekend. It is tradition that everyone (aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, cousins, etc) in the family give the bride a pure gold bracelet. These bracelets start at 300 Turkish lira, so $200.  She said that EVERY relative is expected to give one of these bracelets.  She told us that Turkish people are excepted to put aside money just for these sort of occasions.  She said the bride then can sell the gold and put it toward a house or keep it.  Seyhan made a joke, that getting married was good business to be in!  LOL   

After the Grand Baazar, we headed over to the Spice Baazar which is basically what it sounds like. A whole bunch of vendors selling tons of spices and Turkish delight with a sprinkling of vendors selling goods like that found in the Grand Baazar. 

After a long day of sightseeing we hopped on the 500T around 9:00 pm the going the RIGHT direction this time.  We met a really nice Turkish man by the name of Hakan that spoke pretty darn good English. ;)  He helped to ensure that we knew where our stop would be.  He kept wishing us the best with our IVF and said he really hoped we got a baby or babies.  He told us that he LOVES babies, and that he can’t wait to be a father. He especially wants a daughter and he has already picked out her name.  He even gave us his card and told us we could call him anytime we needed help, if we got lost, or just if we wanted to go out with him.  Glen and I both said he was a catch and whatever girl gets him will be a lucky!

Staci sneaked a picture of Hakan on her iPhone

Well I guess that’s about it for now!  We hope you enjoy the pictures and history!

Much love,

Glen & Staci