The Blue Mosque

We wandered into the Blue Mosque in the afternoon, fetchingly clad in headscarves (if there is a knack to putting one on that doesn't fall off, it has escaped me) and I have to say that it took my breath away. It's a huge building split into three, with the cetral dome reaching further than the other two. Every available space, apart from some clear glass at the bottom is covered with tiles which I initially thought would be really over-powering, but the overall effect is muted (your not even sure which is the principle colour) and actually incredibly peaceful. They've hung candles from the ceiling so that they are only just above your head, which creates a sense of it being intimate, even though you're tiny in comparison to the building. It's quiet, but not because anyone is telling you to be, people are oviously very used to being watched at prayer and get on with it. The Mosque feels spiritual, and it was lovely to be able to spend some time just sitting and thinking, before exploring some more.

The guide book told us that to get the intended view, we ought to look at the Mosque from the Hippodrome side, which is actually supposed to be the front and it is stunning. This is partly because the Mosque is partially hidden close up, so it surprises you. It's weird though as I thought Aya Sofia and The Blue Mosque were facing each other in a sort of standoff. It also means that they are facing different ways - so Mecca and Jerusalem can't be in the same direction here, which is odd as I thought they were.

We then mouched behind the Blue Mosque and saw some very weird wooden buildings that were the same size as a wendy house, before ending up in one of the mainly residential districts where there is clearly an election going on as the whole place is decked out with flags.


After a little bit of a rest back at the hostel, we headed out for dinner with our roomates. You get invited into every restaurant going here, but we finally found a reasonable one for a Durum- a meat kebab wrapped in a tortilla. It was great to feel like part of the hostelling community, and to discover that the 'what am I going to do with my life' is actually something of a universal problem.