Day Three
We are tired. So very
tired. Today was a day – it was a day of
walking, touring, learning, exploring, eating, resting, walking, walking, eating,
and more walking.
Just to give you a run-down on the sights we saw today, it
went like this: Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sofia, Grand Bazaar,
and the Spice Bazaar. I won’t drag on
here about all the fascinating facts and history of these building, some of
which have been standing for 1,500 years (couldn’t resist), instead I would
refer you to the links below which can give you some better idea (apologies for
the wiki site…).
What I would like to muse on a bit after our day today would
be the tremendous sense of awe one gets as they stride through doors that have
been opened for Roman Emperors and Ottoman Sultans. There is something really humbling about
walking into a building that has been standing for fifteen centuries. I was not only struck by the grandeur, the
truly massive scale of these building, by the craftsmanship and artistry of
these ancient structures, but also of the fact that we were standing in ancient
history, in buildings and around monuments that had been commissioned by the
most powerful men in the ancient world. I have been gauging student interest in each individual site based on the number of students who tune everything else in the world out, who will stop short in mid-sentence in order to take a picture. These students have been taking a lot of pictures!
A brief note about the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar –
chaos. Those places are an absolute
frenzy of shopping and haggling. Some of
our students have become quite adept at talking shop keeps down on their
prices. Allie in particular has quite
the talent. She talked her way not only
into some reduced prices, but also into some remarkable free stuff today!
I hope you enjoy the pictures below.
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| Outside the Hagia Sophia |
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| Inside the Blue Mosque |
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| Courtyard of the Blue Mosque |
Awesome reading, can't believe you guys have already been so far! Love seeing the beautiful pictures. (PS Allie, I am exceedingly impressed by your bartering skills.) :) :)
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