Istanbul

This past week, my entire group and I spent a couple days in the Constantinople region of Istanbul, Turkey. We toured two ancient mosques, the Sultan Ahmed "Blue" mosque and the Hagia Sophia. The Blue mosque, built from 1609-1616 during the Ahmed regime of the Ottoman Empire, has been the site of Islamic worship for centuries. It is now a popular architecture tourist attraction known for its blue titles adorning its interior walls.  The Hagia Sophia, was my favorite part of the Istanbul tour, as I had learned so much of its history throughout my education. It was not only eye-opening, it felt like a "holy walk" of your faith henceforth the name meant "Holy Wisdom" in Latin. Since 360 AD until 1931, it had been home to many faiths of worship during the Ottoman Empire. The site contains many various holy artifacts and wall murals of holy figures throughout its structure and is a true representation of what once was Constantinople. Obviously, its age has caused severe decay in its interior (as shown in the picture above). Also, I couldn't help but capture one of many murals of Mother Mary and Baby Jesus.