Turkey

Sure I'm a procrastinator, but at least Im finally getting these pictures out. Last month I traveled to Turkey for work. I spent most of my days in a stuffy little conference room at the Turkish AFB. In the evening our group of Americans went out to eat, and then to a bar or the hotel. I went to the bar a couple of times to watch them use the water pipe like the caterpillar in Alice and Wonderland.

I could go on forever about the food, and the hotel, but that is not fun (their staple food is Sis Kabaps 'Shish Kabab'). On the other hand we did have to travel through Istanbul on the way home and I caught pictures while we traveled around the country side. I bought a very cheap because it might get stolen, lost, or broken on my trip. It was so cheap and the shutter is so slow that it warped the pictures that I took while I was moving.

Here is what a normal Turkish town looks like. From the top of the hotel of course.


This is one of the thousands of mosques that we drove by on our bus up to Istanbul. I dont know how they get it to stand like that.


This is the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, It was built in 1500AD to show that the Muslims can build a building that can put the Hagia Sophia to shame, but it is not nearly as big.


This is the inside of the Blue Mosque. The men up front are prayaing, and the women were praying in the back behind me. I thought it would be rude to use a flash, so it looks really dark.


This is the Hagia Sophia across from the Blue Mosque. It was built by Christians around 500AD then it burnt down completely, and they rebuilt a totally new structure on it. Then the Muslims converted it to a Mosque. Inside there are layers of christian and muslim artifacts.


Here is one of the Christian mosaics with Mary and the Christ child.


Outside there is a place to wash up. A sign said that is was installed by a pope as a symbol of piety. Then I found out that basins like this are part of the Muslim culture to wash up before prayer.