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 ...