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| Marmara Sea on our way to the hotel |
Ride to the Hotel
We landed in Istanbul, Turkey yesterday evening. Canadians can get their visa at the airport for $ 60 per person and we did not go through a long and tiresome waiting time. Ataturk Airport was very modern, neat and organized. The floors lushed with sparkling marbles. If you happen to go there keep one Turkish Lira coin for the trolley. There are currency exchange offices at the airport but they take commission.
We picked up our luggage and exited outside the airport where our driver was waiting with our names written on a cardboard. He was a polite man with a very clean car. As we headed into the outskirts of Istanbul, the greenery and harbour front reminded us of lakeshore area in Toronto. I was expecting women to be wearing head scarves and long skirts and man with their turkish caps but their culture in terms of dressing is very European. I can safely say only 1 in 15 women was wearing a Turkish silken hijab and I hardly saw any man in the red Turkish caps. One in five people was seen smoking. The people speak Turkish and most of them can understand English. Although I was not able to get much culture from the people I was happy to see the richness of Turkey's culture restored in its architecture.
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| Colourful Buildings in Sutanahmet |
Our hotel apartment was conveniently located near the tourists attractions, resturants and buses. We could see the Marmara Sea from our street. Our apartment was very comfy, clean and convenient. It had everything from a small little balcony to cutlery and crockery in the kitchen.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque or The Blue Mosque
We unpacked our luggage and marched to the Blue Mosque or Sultan Ahmed Mosque. The weather was a bit on the chilli side but perfect to be outside walking and smelling the burning charcoal from the sidewalk stands. The roads are made of bricks just like Old Montreal.The mosque is known for its blue tiles adorning the interior of the mosque. I was amazed by the stone-masonry and the calligraphies enhancing the beauty of the mosque.We were told that the mosque was constructed somewhere in the 16th century by Architect, Sedefkar Mehmet Aga
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Blue Mosque at Night |
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| Hagia Sophia at Night |
Day 1-Taksim Square
The next place to visit on the list was Taksim Square (easily accessible by metro). This area is major shopping district adorned by many restaurants, shops and hotels. All the prices were neatly labelled. We ate fried oysters with some yogurt sauce, Turkish pastries, cookies and a dessert (Forgot its name but tasted great). This square had something for everyone. From the T shirts with Turkish flags to music instruments. Clothes, bags, shoes, jewelry, cosmetics and food. You need at least half a day to explore Taksim Square.
Day 2 - Topkapi Museum, Grand Bazar and Spice Bazar
Our day started with breakfast at Subway ( I had Chicken Terriyaki Sub and My husband had Italian Spicy Sub) With satisfied stomachs we made our way to The Topkapi Palace Museum. This palace used to be the management centre of the Ottoman Empire and the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans. The museaum is walking distance from the Blue Mosque, open everyday except Tuesdays, from 9 am to 4 pm and the fee to visit the museum is 20 Turkish Liras. The best part about this meauseaum is that it embraces some of the belongings of Prophets and companions. For example, it has the stick of Hazrat Mossa, Swords belonging to the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam and his companions, the bowl from which Prophet Mohammad sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam drank and the hair of Prophet Mohammad's sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam beard. During the Ottoman period various locks were used to lock the door of Kaaba. These locks are displayed along with the golden casing of Hajre-aswad (black stone). After coming out of the Sacred Relics Section (Cardigan of Felicity) I did not want to see anything in the palace as I felt I had seen the best. (Sorry no pictures were allowed)
In the Palace there are various courtyards and gates. Each courtyard had a specific purpose like the First Courtyard (Alay Meydani) was used for central administration buildings with offices outside the palace. The main section of the palace used to be only accessible by the sultans.The palace complex has hundreds of rooms and chambers and some of them were not accessible to public. Most of the rooms have displays of large collections of porcelain, swords, shields, armor, portraits, treasure and jewelry. Some of the rooms are kept as used by the sultans (the rooms are in glass walls and no one can go inside)
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| Inside Topkapi Palace Museum |
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| Entrance to the palace |
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| Model of the palace |
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| An old water fountain in the palace |
Next we walked into the Grand Bazar which is considered to be the oldest and the largest covered market and has more than 58 covered streets with around 1,200 shops. I don't think I even came close to passing each of the 58 streets but I was truly amazed by the amount of shops. Pictures from the Grand Bazar are shown below.
Next stop was the Spice Bazar or Egyptian Bazar and it was walking distance from Grand Bazar. The bazar sells not only spices but other items like jewelry, meat products, dairy products and honey. I bought some fresh honey as both my husband and I had a bad cold. As we exited from the Spice Bazar we were stone's throw away from the New Mosque where we prayed and bought Etar (oil purfume).
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| Yeni Cami or New Mosque |
We ate some Turkish Cheese burgers (hmmmmm so yummy) on our way to the hotel and bought some Chinese soup from the Chinese Restaurant for our soring throats.
Day 3 - Day 5
Day 3 - Day 5
We visited the placid Eyup Sultan Mosque. This mosque has the grave of Hazrat Ayub Ansari.
Abu Ayub was one of the greatest Companions of the Prophet. He never neglected performing jihad--even as an old man. He went with one of the Muslim armies at the time of Mu^awiyyah to liberate Constantinople. Despite his advanced age, he was patient on the hardship of the journey from Madinah to surround Constantinople--where he eventually died. Prior to his death, he asked the Muslims to advance as far as possible and bury him in that spot--which they did. The Muslim army that time was not successful in liberating Constantinople, and it remained in the hands of the kuffar who themselves tended the grave of Abu Ayyub because of the barakah they saw there! After several hundred years, Constantinople was liberated by Muhammad al-Fatih, the Ottoman. He wanted to know the location of the grave of Abu Ayyub which was no longer apparent since so many years had passed. Muhammad al Fatih asked one of the pious shaykhs in his army if he knew the location of Abu Ayyub's grave. He answered Muhammad al Fatih by recalling a light he had seen the previous evening coming from a specific location which went all the way up in the sky. The shaykh suggested digging there might present the grave. They dug in that location until they uncovered a plate with a writing indicating this was the grave of Abu Ayub. Muhammad al Fatih built a mosque (masjid) in that location
"Iman Ahmad, Al-Hakim, and others narrated about Marwan Ibn alHakam--an unjust ruler--that he once passed by the grave of the Prophet and saw a man with his cheek on the grave of the Prophet. Marwan Ibn al-Hakam asked: "Do you know what you are doing?" Nearing the grave, Marwan Ibn al-Hakam realized it was Abu Ayyub al-Ansariyy, one of the greatest companions of the Prophet.
Abu Ayyub al-Ansariyy replied, "Yes, I know what I am doing. I came here for the Messenger of Allah--not for the stone." By this he meant he was seeking the blessings from the presence of the Prophet, not for the stone covering his grave
Outside the mosque there are other graves with very unique grave stone markings. We also went to all the other mosques that we found on our way. This mosque's Islamic Calligraphy, colourful tiling and architecture is very inviting but most appealing was the feeling of tranquility in this place.
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| Eyup Sultan Mosque (Outside) |
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The footprint of the Prophet sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam inside Eyup Sultan Mosque
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We spent a morning at the Marmara Sea and had Seafood breakfast at a restaurant by the Sea. We went to Glden Horn to get Bosphorus Tour but the Ferry had left for the day.On the last day we explored more of Istanbul,saw amazing museums, ate loads of Turkish food, went to the Blue mosque and came back to the hotel where our Taxi awaited us.
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| Marmara Sea |
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| Golden Horn |
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| Above: Various Museums |
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| Turkish Pottery |
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| Islamic Calligraphy |
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| Turkish Caps and Slippers |
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| Turkish Food |
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| Turkish Chandeliers |
