Leaving Istanbul and Turkey

This has been an amazing two weeks, and now I wrap it all up by leaving the friendly people, the mind blowing history, and the beautiful scenery and culture of Turkey. Troy and I were the first visitors into the Hagia Sophia yesterday. This church come mosque come museum is the Eastern world's answer to St Peter's in Rome, and to be the only person in there (except for security personnel) standing under the great dome was fantastic. I was like a little kid who needed to be restrained while Troy did not know me.

 Istanbul was the capital of the Roman empire for some time and then became the capital of the Eastern Roman empire. Then of course, the Ottomans took it over but they did not destroy the great sacred spaces of Christianity, they converted them and covered up many of the mosaics which are still being revealed today. The Blue Mosque is also spectacular and it faces the Hagia Sophia, so the cameras went mad here.

We also visited the Basilica Cisterns (pictured to the left with dark lights) and they too are highly recommended. Emperor Julius built both the Hagia Sophia and the Cisterns...he must have had hard working priests who knew how to get good collections.

 Talking of  'collections', we both had a lot of fun at the Grand Bazaar where 4000 plus stalls/shops are all vying for your $$$. Did we resist? All will be revealed! The Spice Markets also known as the Egyptian Markets, are interesting too, but very busy. Sorry about the pic of me being a Whirling Dervish in the markets. I could not resist like many times in this trip trying on the hats!

We are currently in our hotel lobby awaiting our transfer to the Istanbul airport. From here we have 5 hours layover in Amman Jordan before heading to our retreat in Jerusalem. During the layover time I hope to get back on line to make a blog about the faces of the people of Turkey. Sometimes the e-access is very dodgy.

This page is dedicated to my priest's support group: Fr Samy, Fr Mark Croker, Fr Tom Thornton, Fr Kevin Flynn, Fr Simon Falk, Fr Peter Cronin...and Fr Troy. I remember them in my Sunday Mass today.

REMEMBER TO DOUBLE LEFT CLICK ON A PIC TO VIEW IT BIGGER.