The Hagia Sofia

It was a church, then it was a mosque, then a museum. What makes this interesting is that when the Hagia Sofia became a mosque, all of the Christian mosaics were covered and the crosses removed. Now that it is being restored, you can see a great mix of the presence of the different religions.

The end of the trip

Right now, I am sitting in an airport in London - I've hit the last few minutes of my online allotment. However, this is not the end of the blog - I have many more pictures and learning points to post!!

Proper attire in Turkey

Before I went on this trip, I was instructed to only bring clothes with long sleeves, long skirts or pants, and a scarf. For most of our trip, we have travelled to areas that are influenced by Westerners (meaning that they dress like we do in America). However, we did hit some areas that were more conservative, especially for the women.

Here is one family we had dinner with. Notice all of the men are wearing long pants.....shorts are never seen. Also notice what the mother is wearing - a head scarf and a very long jacket. We saw a lot of this.

Here are several ladies walking into a mosque. Notice the head scarves and the long jackets.

In this picture, a woman in wearing a burqa - a covering that covers the body from head to toe, only allowing for the face to be shown. Some only allow for eyes to be visible.Here I am in one of the mosques. Notice the long skirt, the long sleeves, no shoes, and the headscarf. I am smiling. I was not smiling after 15 minutes because I was so hot, and I couldn't wait to just get the scarf off of my head. How do these women do it?

Where did they have performances in ancient times? We have stadiums and concert halls, what did they have?

Answer: Enormous ampitheatres, such as this one in the Hieropolis. This one even features family boxes and dressing rooms.

No learning points, just pretty pictures of the cruise on the Bosporus

Pamukkale and the Hieropolis

We made it to Pamukkale - remember my first blog entry? The pools are beautiful, and right behind them are the ancient ruins of the Hieropolis.

"You catch flies with honey"..

That's a popular saying, and it came to life today when shopping at the Spice Market. The merchants are a bit pushy and pesky, but there was one store in which the owner was very gracious and answered our questions. Because of that, we decided to make many of our purchases there. He gave us each traditional Turkish tea, and all of the Turkish delight we could eat (made with honey instead of sugar..yum!)

As we sat and enjoyed, a famous woman came by with bodyguards. The shop owner asked who the lady was so that he could assist. The response he was given by the bodyguard was that "she is more important than you". The shopkeeper turned away and did not bother to assist the lady who was perusing the goods. Instead, he helped us out. The lady and her bodyguards left, having nobody to help them.

Here is a picture of us and the shop owner, who was so gracious and helpful to us.