The elusive Blue Mosque

You'd think having been in Istanbul for almost two weeks and seeing the Blue Mosque every day from our hotel, we would have gotten there by now.  This week we have visited several mosques built since the rise of the Ottoman empire.  Wanting to round out "Mosque week" with the Blue Mosque we headed there after breakfast only to discover it was closed until 2:30.  We persisted and a small group of NEH scholars joined the long line of tourists to get a crowded glimpse inside.  Just as spectacular as the Suleymaniye mosque from earlier this week, however the crowd and smell of stinky tourist feet (everyone takes off their shoes in the mosque) cut short our visit! 

Our morning trip proved unfruitful, but it was nice to get some pictures without all the tourists!

In another post I mentioned the cats throughout the city.  This one was looking for breakfast and climbed right in my lap during my picture--sorry I didn't have any food, kitty!

Waiting in line to enter the Blue Mosque

The beautiful mosaics throughout the interior give the mosque its name.  The real name is Sultan Ahmet Camii and it was constructed from 1609-1616. 

This struck me as funny...all you need to do to understand Islam is talk to their info center for a few minutes.

 

The women's prayer area inside the Blue Mosque. 

Mosque's were explained as community centers, but I'm finding them to be more Gentlemen's Clubs.  Women rarely attend prayers at mosques as they are expected to pray at home.  It seems odd to me, since women often play such important functions with Christian churches in the United States.  Perhaps not as the religious leaders, but women are the critical people for teaching sunday school, preparing funerals and wedding services, and many other social functions for worship communities.  Since mosques serve so many functions in the Islamic world, I'm surprised women aren't utilized more in these capacities.