This is the Hajia Sophia. It was originally built as a church during the Byzantine Empire around 500 A.D. It was converted to a mosque by the Ottomans but it is now a museum.
This is the Blue Mosque which is about 1000 years older than the Hajia Sophia. It is a working mosque, so the call to prayer was rather loud and I had to take my shoes off in order to enter it.
The Grand Bazaar is the world's oldest and largest bazaar, which means that it is a giant mall with really annoying salesman. The salesman would stand outside the shops and try to speak whatever language they think is your native tongue. One guy asked if I was from Holland.
This is a picture from Cappadocia. We stayed in a village called Goreme and it is surrounded by hills which have caves carved into the sides of them. The caves were made by Christians that were trying to escape from persecution.
This is a picture inside one of the caves that was made into a church. The landscape is literally covered with these caves and the walls are covered with paintings inside the churches.
6 comments:
you know you have to be IN pictures for us to believe that you were there ;)
Awesome Big AL good pics.
Very true Jae. My next post will have some with me in them. :)
Awesome pics. Those mosques are crazy looking. Do they let you inside or is it for terrorists only? I like how Turkish people think you are Dutch.
I'm from Holland, isn't that weird?
Very cool pics Al. How do they like Americans over there? Any hostilities? Did you have to lay it down for the Red, White, and Blue?
Actually, Turkey is one of the few Muslim countries that supports the US. The Turks were nice and seemed happy that we were there. However, I think the main reason that they like Americans is because we typically compliment their country, respect there culture, and, of course, spend alot of money.
Post a Comment