The day after visiting Hagia Sophia, we didn’t stay idle either, our morning destination was the monumental Blue Mosque. Although it is one of the most popular attractions in the city, our experience is that it is somewhat easier to get here than to Hagia Sophia.
As we entered, I immediately understood why it is considered one of the most beautiful religious buildings in the world. Its official name is Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii), and it was built in the early 1600s by Sultan Ahmed I. His goal was to create a mosque that would be a worthy match and rival to the Hagia Sophia opposite.
But why is it called the Blue Mosque? The view quickly gave us the answer. The interior walls are decorated with more than 20,000 hand-painted Iznik tiles. These ceramics depict various floral patterns, tulips and vines, and their dominant colors are blue and turquoise. When the huge chandeliers and the natural light filtering through more than 200 colored glass windows illuminate these walls, the entire interior bathes in a magical bluish glow.
The building is also special from the outside, as it is the only Ottoman mosque that was originally built with six minarets. According to legend, the sultan asked for “golden” (altın) minarets, but the architect heard “six” (altı) minarets – thus this unique silhouette was born, which has since become a symbol of Istanbul.
After a thorough tour of the mosque and a short rest in its quiet inner courtyard, we took a tram to the starting point of the next program, a port from where we set off on a pleasant Bosphorus boat trip.
