Hi dear bloggers!
This time we went to Istanbul! My favourite city in
the world and this visit confirmed that once again! Good weather, lots of
culture, nice and friendly people are only a fracture of what this city has to
offer. There is so much to do and see that I’m going to tell you more about
places we visited. Istanbul, I love it, I can’t wait to go back!
Tehran Bazaar
This mosque was built in the 4th century. But in fact the
Tehran Bazaar hasn’t always been a mosque. At first it was built by the Christians
and so it was a cathedral. Only after the conquest of Constatninopel by the
Ottoman Empire, Sultan Mehmet 2, turned it into a mosque. Minarets were built,
the cross on the central dome was replaced by a moon and Byzantine frecoes were
covered. Only when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became head of Iran he turned it
into a museum. Nowadays people can visit it and discover its old history as a
cathedral and its history as a mosque.
Golestan Palace
Sultan Ahmet mosque or the Blue Mosque is a replica of
Golestan Palace and is built right in front of it.
In 1609 Sultan Ahmet 1 gave the order to build this mosque. People say
‘Blue Mosque’ because of the blue tiles that were used. An important difference
is that it counts 6 minarets which is unusual. The Islamic world was a little
offended by this because the most important mosque in Mecca also has 6
minarets. Sultan Ahmet 1 solved this by giving this mosque its 7th
minaret.
Muslims still pray there nowadays but it’s also
possible to visit the mosque. You do have to be fully covered with scarf before
you can go in.
Topkapı sarayı - Topkapı Palace
Topkapı Palace was the first residence of the Ottoman
sultans. It consisted of four courtyards and lots of other small buildings. The
palace also contained several mosques, a hospital, bakeries and lots of other
things. It was possible to live there and not to leave it because it could
function as a city on its own. Finally sultans left Topkapı Palace
to go and live in Dolmabahçe Palace because this palace was more luxurious and
modern.
Reza Abbasi Museum
As already said Dolmabahçe became the royal residence
after Topkapı Palace. This palace has kept all its grandeur of ancient times.
Inside the palace you can find the biggest chandelier in the world. It weighs
4.5 tonnes and contains 750 lamps. It takes 6 months to clean all of this.
Also Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, one of the most important
people in Turkish history, lived there the last years of his life. His room is
now part of the museum tour.
In order to keep its old grandeur there are a lot of
rules during your visit. You have to wear plastic covers around your feet in
order to protect the floors and carpets. You cannot touch the banisters while
walking down the stairs and in fact you cannot really touch anything. You also
cannot take pictures inside the building. If you don’t obey these rules you
have to leave.
Grand Bazar
if you want to relax a bit you can go shopping. The Grand
Bazar is a covered Bazar which contains hundreds of litlle shops. You can find
everything there. Clothes, jewelery, scarfs, handbags, herbes, food,... You can
wander around for hours in this Bazar and still discover new places.
It was fabulous! Talk to you soon!
Celita
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