The Blue Mosque

There really aren’t words to describe the Blue Mosque, also known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. It is just simply breathtaking.

Our second day in Istanbul we went on a tour for the majority of the day – it was really great! Our guide was awesome and we saw EVERYTHING we wanted to see, the first of which being the Blue Mosque!

  

Since I took so many pictures from our tour, I figured it would be best to break it down in blog post by landmark. I will be linking to Wikipedia for further information on the sights we saw if you would like to know more!

 

Our tour started just outside the Blue Mosque at  the Obelisk of Theodosius remaining from the Byzantine Hippodrome . It predates the Ottoman buildings around it and was transported from Egypt!

Outside the mosque, attached to the building is a hallway of faucets for washing hands and feet before entering. Since is is still an active mosque today, this is very important to the Muslims who worship there.

   

Like I mentioned in on our first day in Istanbul, we got a little sneak peak of the outside and courtyard area, but seeing it in the early morning made it even more beautiful!

  

Here is a little more detail on some of the “rules” before entering the mosque:

 

We had to remove our shoes before entering, which I understand why we had to do it, but to be honest with you, the mosque smelled like feet.

 

But I got over the smell the second I stepped foot inside and looked up. 

We went during a time when there were no prayers going on so we got a really nice view of everything and it wasn’t too crazy packed with tourists.

The Call to Prayer happens five times a day: It is heard at dawn, at the midday, about the middle of the afternoon, just after sunset, and at night fall about two hours after sunset. We heard all 5 calls to prayer everyday during our time in Istanbul, it was very beautiful!

My experience inside the Blue Mosque was unexpected. I had no idea what the inside would be like and when we went inside I was overwhelmed with the size of it all.

The mosque is known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles adorning the walls of the interior.

 

The tiles were beautiful, no picture can really do them justice.

The carpet even had a little blue in it too!

 

I brought a scarf with me to cover my head in the mosque out of respect. There were lots of women who had skin showing and heads uncovered, which I didn’t think was very cool.

When in Rome Istanbul, right?

Did I mention the details in this place were out of control?

   

 

I make the scarf on the head look good, right?

  

I think the outside is just as beautiful as the inside.

With our tour group we hit up the “Facebook spot” for some more pictures.

Pretty nice view if you ask me!

 

On the horizon is the stoic Hagia Sophia, which we will see later on our tour!

 

What did you think of the Blue Mosque? Have you ever been in a mosque before?