As it turned out, Sultanahmet Suites where we stayed are just a within walking distance of the Sultan Ahmet Mosque (Blue Mosque), Aya Sofya, Hippodrome, Topkapi Palace and Basilica Cistern.
After a simple breakfast in the apartment, we set out towards
the Sultan Ahmet Mosque area. Walking through the cobblestoned small roads, we passed by a very beautiful old mosque with children playi
ng marbles at its courtyard. W
e later found out that nearly all the mosques here have courtyards with facility for wudhu. It took us a while to find out that this is Sokolulu Sehit Mehmet Pasa Cami (Cami = Mosque; and 'C' is pronounced as 'J' therefore Jami; maybe that where our 'Masjid Jamik' term comes from). After short walk, we found ourselves at the edge of the Hippodrome. What's left of the old arena that is located next to the Sultan Ahmet Mosque. In the hippodrom
e area,
there are a few obelisk including one with hieroglyphic writings that was brought over from Egypt centuries ago. Talking about old, nearly everything here is old. The
old mosque we saw along the way was built in 1571.
Further up, separated by a garden with fountain in the middle are the famous Aya Sofya and the Sultan Ahmet Mosque. Beautiful sights. We proceeded to the Topkapi Palace compound but not before enjoying some Turkish ice-creams that are...well, sticky.
The presentation by the ice-cream sellers especially when serving kids is entertaining to say the least. Ice-cream came in 3 sizes, at 3 Turkist Lira (TL), 4 TL and 5 TL each.
Walking along a side-road next to Aya Sofya, we took a detour to an art and craft centre before finally arriving at the main gate of the Topkapi Palace. There are two armed guards stations at the gate and once inside, there's a huge garden with the sea on the right. The outside garden is not part of the main palace and as we've decided to just stroll around today enjoying the sights (did I mention that the Istanbul Annual Tulips festival is on?) including the blooming tulips of various colours, we did not enter the main palace. We've got a week here and that will be in future days.
We did enter the Istanbul Archaeological Museum established since 1891 (10 TL for adults and no charge for kids) and to our amazement, having been to the British Museum, the collections are quite extensive. In fact, prior to entering the main building there were old sarcophagus lying around at the sides of the streets that would have been a major exhibits at Muzium Negara probably. Within the compound, there were 3 buildings and it took us a couple of hours to take an 'express tour' of them all.
Interestingly, there were quite a lot of seating areas around and i
t was when we were taking a rest that we experience the azan in Sultanahmet. It was Zuhr and the call of azan from the tens of mosques around the area that mixed together were simply beautiful in their own ways. Really miss them and the closest I've experienced this is during Subuh in Penang when it's quite and the many surau's azan will be heard together giving rise to these beautiful experience.
After the Museum, we walked down the side street next to the park towards Gulhane. Being hungry, we followed our noses and soon found some old men selling what looked like grilled-meat in bread that sells for 4TL each. 5 of these ended up being our lunch in the park. After lunch, we headed back to Sultan Ahmed mosque via the main road.
The first visit to Sultan Ahmet mosque (Blue Mosque) was quite disappointing as there were too many tourists both outside and inside the mosque. While there's a border set-up at about 3 quarter lengths to the back of the mosque for tourists, the noise, flashes and camera-snapping sounds made it feel NOT like a mosque. We managed to find a secluded spot for prayers but that's about it. In fact, after the prayer I noticed some tourist being brought in up to the mimbar by a guide, well passed the border. Note to self, in future, come here DURING prayer time where the mosque is closed for tourists for about 30 minutes.
to be continued...Arasta Bazaar....etc...
