The Blue Mosque

Blue Mosque at Dusk

Our hotel was right behind the Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque and, for the first time ever, I heard the Call to Prayer in instalments. The Blue Mosque sits across a park from the Hagia Sophia and is perhaps the world’s most famous mosque. The Hagia Sophia was built almost 1500 years ago as a cathedral, converted to a mosque a thousand years later, and now a museum. Yet, the Hagia Sophia still calls to the faithful and these two institutions take turns to sing their way through it one sentence at a time. These calls are high volume, compared to all other mosques in the area, and if you sit in the park between them you can hear them rally, back and forth. But, from our hotel you could only hear the Blue Mosque call, punctuated by silences.

Istanbul Dogs

If Istanbul is full of cats, the area around the Blue Mosque is full of tourists… …and dogs. They march up and down, attack each other, sleep, and generally ignore everyone; not the tourists, that is, the dogs! They are tagged, fed and fixed, apparently – like the cats, they’re part of the fabric of the city. Between the mosque and the Hagia Sophia lies a park, with sections of fenced grass and a fountain. One grassy section had three dogs; you could see the scoops in the grass where they slept. But, woe betide you if you step over that 6-inch fence onto their grass.

Vacuuming between prayers

The Blue Mosque is a beautiful building, built to rival its elder the Hagia Sophia in the early 1600’s. On the day we entered, rain was pouring down, gushing out of the roof spouts. Carol tried to enter with her hair covered by a hoodie but no; she had to wear a headscarf, of course. You have to remove your shoes outside the mosque – we stood in a long line and I anticipated wet socks. But, no, it was organized so that hundreds of visitors could enter and leave without getting their feet wet. Attendants pace up and down scraping water off the walkway. They even give you a plastic bag to carry your shoes.

At least the rain gave street vendors a chance to sell clear plastic umbrellas as a break from their constant chant of ‘selfie stick, selfie stick’.

Interior showing Minbar (Pulpit)
on left, Sultan’s enclosure centre

Unlike many places I’ve been, you are welcome to enter any mosque in Istanbul; and entry is free. Inside this mosque, you cannot enter the main prayer area although you can see it. As with most mosques, you avoid prayer time and, it seems, you get to see someone vacuuming the huge carpet that covers the floor. Generally, you look up to see beautiful domed roofs, and the Blue Mosque is no exception. It’s called the Blue Mosque to acknowledge the blue iznik tiles that adorn its interior, particularly the central dome. These tiles are found in tombs and mosques throughout Istanbul, adorned with geometric and flowing arabesque patterns.

I wonder what Sultan Ahmed 1, whose tomb is on the grounds, would think of the groups of tourists sitting on his prayer carpet laughing and comparing photos of his beautiful building on their smart phones…

Blue Mosque - Central Dome