Day 3: My Fave.

Day three was probably my favorite only because to me, Turkey is synonymous with the Hagia Sophia and on this wonderful day, we got to explore it.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves… This day started like every other… no talking until food has been consumed (by day three, it is understood that we're all worthless until we have some food in us).

This is what breakfast looked like at our hostel.

Oh, and lots of cups of turkish tea.

Yerin being caught riding the carb-train.

(No judgement here - the bread was simply used as a mode of transportation for the delicious spreads they had - the best was their version of nutella.)

Fueled, we headed out.  

First stop, the Blue Mosque (or the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, if we're going to be technical).

Kelly being super Turkish.

At this point, Kelly's been told she looks Turkish twice.  Don't think we didn't notice her walk with more swagger.  We were super jealous.

Chillen in the blue mosque. (nbd)

Gorgeous domes.

Now that I look at my ceiling, a ceiling fan just doesn't seem very exciting.

You'd say this column is pretty large, wouldn't you?

It's even larger than that.

Yon Yonsin'ing in front of the giant column.

And then we were off to see the Hagia Sophia!!

Yerin's blowing our cover and being super asian/touristy.

A bit of history on the Hagia Sophia… It was first constructed as a church around 360, which was then burnt down.  The second church was inaugurated in 415 and built by Theodosius II.  This second Hagia Sophia was burnt down in 532 during the Nika Revolt.  The only remaining blocks from the second church are from the entrance, and they now sit in front of the museum.

Reliefs depicting 12 lambs and the 12 apostles from the second Hagia Sophia.

The third and final reconstruction was completed under Emperor Justinian and was inaugurated in 537. The mosaics on the interior were not completed until 565-578.

The Hagia Sophia was then converted to the Aya Sofya Mosque under Mehmed II when the Ottoman Turks showed up and conquered Constantinople.  The Islamic features were then added under the Ottomans.

The Imperial Gate Mosaic in the entrance hall of the Hagia Sophia.

The inside of this gorgeous structure.

Trying to figure out how such a giant canvas was prepped.

Southwestern Entrance Mosaic.

Virgin and Child flanked by Justinian I and Emperor Constantine.

Posing the only way we know how to pose when posing with a sarcophagus…

After the Hagia Sophia, the hunger was starting to hit us, so we hit the hunger with the turkish interpretation of a bagel, also known as "simit."

We walked back to the Grand Bazaar and ended up in swarms of foot traffic, so after a pretty traumatizing experience (not everyone can say that they got kicked out of a spice store… we can.), we decided we had had enough of the Grand Bazaar and left.

We ended up next to the Nuruosmaniye Mosque, which is basically where you hang out if you're a pigeon in Istanbul.

Kelly's expression pretty much sums it up.  

"We've GOT to get out of here."

Otherwise, the Mosque looked pretty cool.

We made our way back to our lovely neighborhood of Sultanahmet just in time to see the sun set.

Then, you guessed it (!), it was time for more food!

We found a restaurant a few blocks away that is said to be a pretty popular spot, so it was off to Doy-Doy for some dinner.

CLEARLY this place spoke our language.  And that language is bread.  Big pouffy delicious bread.

And Apple Tea. <3

Oh, and amazing food.

We ended this day like every other, in a cozy booth at the Sultan Cafe.  There's nothing quite like recalling the day over some apple tea.  On this day, we officially became "regulars."  We know this because we were comp-ed like bandits on our bill.  We pretty much declare ourselves Turkish at this point.

Another amazing day in Istanbul… the only thing worse than leaving Turkey and missing it is combing through photos and recalling the fantastic time you had there.  That makes you miss it even more.

I can't even function without meals every two hours and turkish tea anymore.  And don't even get me started on the baklava here. :/