Heading back to Turkey for the first time in years in November 2024 and we are exploring the hectic, culture drenched city of Istanbul.
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, being the country’s economic, cultural, and historical heart.
With a population over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is also among the largest cities in Europe.
We stayed at the lovely little Menar Suites Old City Sultanahmet. A perfect place to spend a few days exploring all the delights of this incredible city.
We started off in style with a visit to one of the most famous sights – the beautiful Blue Mosque.
The Blue Mosque – officially known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque – is an Ottoman era imperial mosque built between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I.
Tourists are still allowed to visit for free, unlike at the city’s other famous sight the Hagia Sophia.
The mosque has a classical Ottoman layout with a central dome surrounded by four semi-domes over the prayer hall.
It has a large courtyard and is flanked by six minarets, making it an incredible spectacle whether you are religious or not.
Inside is incredibly ornate and is dominated by a dome and cascading semi-domes.
The main dome reaches a height of 43 metres and the weight of the dome is supported by four massive cylindrical pillars.
The inside is decorated with thousands of Iznik tiles and painted floral motifs in predominantly blue colours, which give the mosque its popular name.
It also has beautiful stained glass windows and an impressive circular lighting system.
The mosque contains around 260 windows to admit natural light. Each semi-dome has 14 windows and the central dome has 28.
The details are incredible. As Islam prohibits the use of images of people, the decoration is instead a selection of natural motifs including cypress trees, flowers, and fruit in a range of colours including blue, green, red, black, and turquoise.
A total of 21,043 tiles, featuring over fifty different designs, are found inside the mosque.
