Merhaba! We're in Istanbul, Turkey

The call to prayer is
amplified through these
towers, called minarets.

The eery sound of men calling out and singing in the early morning darkness woke us up at 5:30 a.m. The call to prayer seemed to echo across Istanbul as the voices of men singing and chanting were amplified from the top of the tall towers that surround the mosques. To a Muslim, this probably sounds normal. But to untrained ears, it sounds sorrowful. It almost sounds like the guy singing is actually lamenting something very, very sad.

Once we slept off our jet lag, we walked the same marble floors emperors walked back in the days of old Constantinople. Strolling inside the Hagia Sophia, now known as Aya Sofya in Turkish, it's easy to see why it was known as the "Great Church." For nearly a thousand years, no building could beat its massive dome-on-rectangle construction. Built during the sixth century A.D., it's hard to believe it is so old.

Where Jesus sparkles from underneath

Gold Biblical mosaics hide underneath a layer of plaster.

Aya Sofya used to be one of the most impressive Christian churches in the world. When the basilica was converted into a Muslim mosque in the 1400s, all of the glittering gold mosaics featuring Jesus and other Biblical characters, were literally plastered over and hidden from view. All that gold went undercover. Luckily, experts have peeled back some of those layers to reveal surviving mosaics underneath. 

When you walk inside this basilica-turned-mosque-turned-museum, you'll see Jesus right next to huge 24-foot medallions featuring Arabic calligraphy with inscriptions such as Allah and Muhammad. It's interesting that these two religions occupy the same building.

As if to make seeing Istanbul's two biggest sites super convenient for the tourists, the famous blue mosque is located directly across from Aya Sofya. The two great buildings face each other. The Blue Mosque looks like a waterfall of cascading domes and inside it is covered in colorful Turkish tiles, most of which are blue.

Turkish tile by the thousands

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey

Since this is a working mosque, people are inside praying. When there's a service, the mosque closes to visitors. When it is open, tourists can go inside for free. To enter, you must take off your shoes (and place them in provided plastic shopping bags to carry around). Women, Muslim or not, must cover their heads inside a mosque. Although I wrapped my pashmina scarf over my head, I'm sure I still stuck out as a tourist. Turkish women can wrap their headscarves in a way that makes it actually look good. My scarf looked like a messy black blob on my head.

Once inside, everyone is craning their necks to see the dazzling tiles that completely cover the dome, ceilings and the walls. Amidst the gawking tourists, people are kneeling on the richly carpeted floor to pray. While men can pray in the front of the mosque in a large section blocked off for tourists, women must pray in the back of the mosque. The section for women is enclosed with a door leading inside. How do these people pray and reflect quietly with literally hundreds of tourists watching?

Arasta Bazaar: Shopping without the heckling

Just behind the Blue Mosque is the Arasta Bazaar. If you walk out the front of the mosque and turn right, you'll see signs leading to the bazaar. Lined with shops selling tiles, fluffy Turkish towels and of course, Turkish rugs, the Arasta Bazaar is a relaxed shopping environment. We walked without being harassed to buy something. In fact, no one so much as heckled us to come into their shop. Window shopping in the Arasta Bazaar is very low-pressure and enjoyable. I hear the Grand Bazaar is the exact opposite.

In the Arasta Bazaar we met Canadian Jennifer, the owner of Jennifer's Hamam. She sells organic cotton Turkish towels and flat-woven towels. While the towels are impressive, they were a little steep in price. They are also dense, heavy towels with the softest of textures. Jennifer explained that it takes eight days to weave some of these towels. "They will last for 20 years," she said. I stupidly asked if you could still bleach the towels. After a long, dramatic pause, I was told that bleaching organic towels is never a good idea. It would defeat the purpose of having an organic towel. Oops. People probably thought, "those stupid Americans, always messing up something of quality with their bleach and their harsh chemicals." Although we got away without buying any, I still want to go back for some later.

After the mosques, shopping and gawking, we were ready for dinner.

In order to prevent Kirk from having another man hunger emergency, we went to the nearest recommended restaurant, only a 2-minute walk from our hotel. The place is called Cesme Restaurant, and the food was excellent. For $23, we got a plate of lamb kebabs, a plate of lamb kabob-stuffed pita with yogurt dipping sauce, two apple teas, a fruit drink, a large bottle of water and the "Ottoman special dessert." The last was a kind of liquid nougat filling you ate with a spoon. I forgot what the waiter called it, but it was basically a dish of sweet, nutty, gooey goodness. 

The interior of the Blue Mosque is covered with thousands of Iznik tiles, most of them are varying shades of blue.