Hagia Sophia
Tuesday June 7
We almost started our day with a fantastic breakfast spread, score another for Patti's planning, but she and I actually started our day by waking at 2:00AM (TRT) with the 5:00PM (MDT) blues. The kids seem to have taken well to the adjusted time zone, we might need a day or two.
Our first out of hotel building experience today was the Hagia Sophia an ancient Christian church that was finished in 537. The Hagia Sophia, Latin for Holy Wisdom (a reference to Christ), was the world's largest interior space and is said to have changed the history of architecture. It was the archetypical architecture for almost a millennium.
In 1453 with the Ottoman conquer of Constantinople the church was converted into a mosque, in 1934 to a museum and just last year it returned to a mosque.
It is difficult to know how God is at work in the world, but we do know that He has installed Christ as King and is putting all things under His feet, the last of which will be death itself. While His kingdom wanes at times, it is always expanding towards its ultimate goal. There remains an ancient cross mosaic that is still visible in the entryway which is a sign of the present and future reality.
After our visit inside this piece of history we went on to the Grand Bazaar. Here it is straight from wikipedia. The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 4,000 shops on a total area of 331,000 sq ft. attracting between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. In 2014, it was listed No.1 among the world's most-visited tourist attractions with 91,250,000 annual visitors. The Grand Bazaar at Istanbul is often regarded as one of the first shopping malls of the world. Mall of America is so this century.
The mall was alive with hustle, bustle and bargaining. Although I was not in the market for anything (pun intended) they must have gotten some inside scoop about the state of my feet. Reposing in the bed yesterday while recharging for the evenings walkabout we were confronted by a most unwelcome odor. Thinking that we could not have gotten the 'dead animal in the mattress room' all noses pointed to my feet.
While it is true that I often, rarely, almost never, intentionally wash my feet, it is also true that they never stink, itch, burn, or generally run afoul of western standards of hygiene. I take the general approach that feet, at the bottom of the shower cycle are always getting the most soap, things have now changed with my twice in a row soapy foot massage.
We have one daughter, remaining nameless, who one might regard at certain times as the Princess of Podiatric Putrefaction. But it was I this time, the great offender. Patti will need therapy for her post-traumatic sock syndrome.
All that to say, I had more offers to buy socks today than at any other time in my life. How did they know that my every other pair was with our lost luggage. The hustle was not just inside the bazaar, while eating outside in a restaurant I had no less the 4 offers for socks, 3 for cologne and 1 for a kids toy.
Observations:
This bazaar is so large that there are hills in it. At one point Tara asked if we could go a certain way only because it was downhill :-)
We did hear some funny pitches like - "Come in here, no hassle. Please no come in here now this is no hassle." I liked this one - "How can I take your money?"
This place puts the maze in amazing.
We also viewed and ascended the Galata Tower but this post is already too long and I am too tired to write about it ;-).
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