After a long walk, lost in the city of maze, several talks with the locals, a medium-length Metro ride, we arrived at Sultanahmet station. It was raining heavily, we ran to the sidewalk and went into some shops at the corridor near the station. Merely looking at things until the rain stopped.
People were everywhere. Tourist, locals, faces from all around the globes, variety of languages spoken among those crowds. A pure heart of Istanbul, we were heading to The Blue Mosque, or Sultanahmet. We went to the nearest little mosque for our Zohor prayer - having asked to pay 1 Lira to go to the pubic toilet to take wudu'. Clearly I was annoyed because we need to take wudhu' from little sinks cramped in a small toilet. Old ladies were having a hard time trying to balance of their body. Surely the government thought about improving their Mosque's toilet? After all, the city is crowded with thousands of people daily.
After the prayer, we walked towards the Blue Mosque.
The boys bought freshly squeezed pomegranate juice for 5 Lira, seduced by its red ripeness - no sugar, 100% juice, to learned that it does not tasted sweet at all. I challenge all of you to have a taste of it one day, so you would know, how to judge a taste by its looks next time :D
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We arrived at the mosque's area, snapping pictures away. Too many people, too many faces, all eager to take perfect pictures - can't deny that I was overwhelmed by standing so close to the majestic architecture myself. It was a magnificent beauty, and I was speechless. I wish we were more relaxed, slowly sipping in the taste of it, enjoying the view, taking more time, instead of rushing things off. But being in a group teaches us how to be tolerant towards each other, right? And we got countless of explorations to do in the next few hours before the night came.
So I took what I got.
So I took what I got.
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And this is what I got, an awkward pose standing in front of the mosque, after my mom forced me to :
Nothing as bad as what I watched in Taken. Everything was light and vibrant, other than random riots, I think this is a safe place to travel alone, strictly using *streetwise 101 rules. Definitely a great place to return to, because it got so many places to be explored, little gems in hidden places and fresh vibes ❤
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