Probably the most well-known mosque in Istanbul, just the sight of it made me slow down my pace. It was prayer time and I felt that with every step I took I matched the sounds coming out of the loudspeakers calling the faithful to come.

The court of the Blue Mosque

Also called Sultanahmet mosque, it gives the name to the neighbourhood. Built by one of genius architect Mimar Sinan's disciples, Sedefhar Mehmet Ağa, its design is clearly influenced by the Byzantine elements of the nearby Ayasofya. In fact, they are practically in front of each other, separated by a large and well-kept park with flowers and fountains.


From the exterior, the most important feature of the Blue Mosque is the fact that it has 6 minarets, being the only mosque in Istanbul with this characteristic. It was actually a controversy during the time it was built, because it equaled the Sacred Mosque of Mecca, the holiest site of Islam.

As a response to the controversy caused, Sultan Ahmet  told his architect to add another minaret to the one in Mecca.

My brother and me in the courtyard of the Blue Mosque

The name Blue Mosque comes from the fact that the interior is adorned by more than 20,000 handmade Iznik ceramic tiles in more than 50 different tulip, flower and fruit patterns, which shine thanks to the light coming inside the building from the 260 windows decorated with complex designs.

Interior of the Blue Mosque

Now a little anecdote from when we visited the Blue Mosque.

We actually weren't allowed to go inside the mosque, because we got there by the time of the third prayer of the day. After taking some pictures of the courtyard, we decided to follow the advice of one of the mosque's volunteers, who told us about a presentation about Islam and Islamic architecture in one of the rooms of the mosque.

We were offered tea, coffee and cookies before the volunteers began explaining about the religion and the architecture of the building, a presentation which helped me understand the grandeur and the purpose of the construction of imperial mosques. The guy also gave each one of us a free copy of the Quran. I had enough space in my bag for one and my brother had to carry his one.

He was pretty upset and insisted several times that I make some space in my bag so he wouldn't hold his Quran in the hand. After saying no over and over again, he stopped insisting.
By the time we returned to the mosque prayer time was over. I was told to put a scarf over my head and since I had nothing, they gave me a piece of blue cloth. But when the mosques' guards saw my brother carrying the Quran, they showed so much respect and even lowered their heads as he was taking off his shoes. They wanted to shake his hand and smiled uninterruptedly. They treated him with high reverence. I was blown away and started laughing to myself.
He was a rock star. A Quran rock star without even wanting it. 

Some people have stolen the Iznik tiles from the mosque.

The interior of the Blue Mosque was simply out of this world. So delicate, so harmonious, so unbelievably perfect. It's almost as if these buildings are erected to be a haven of peace where you take all the energy you need to go on.

The Egyptian obelisk in the Hippodrome, right next to Sultanahmet mosque.

Daily life scene from the Hippodrome in Sultanahmet.

Keep reading SpiegelEye travel blog for more of my Istanbul & Turkey travel diary. Also coming up, my top 5 travel moments of this year! You can't miss it!!!!

Cheers,
Astrid

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