Turkey Exploration : 1st day

alhamdulillah, a new holiday after a period of brain torture , haha

well, this is some of my travelogue to turkey past week, its kind of enjoyment to get a trip to the last Islamic empire,the ottoman empire that have numerous n ancient building that still strong until today although most of them have been stood there for more than five century. It is a sad thing to see that the empire now are only a history in our books.

on the first day, we've went to the magnificent sultan Ahmed mosque (Turkish : Sultan Ahmet Camii ; they pronounced 'C' as 'J' ) or in present its famous name was blue mosque. This mosque that been build by the ottoman architect, the pupil of the famous mimar sinan, Mehmed Agha,
Well, this blue mosque got its name from the blue iznik tile at the dome of the mosque that can be seen on the photos below

one of the minaret from the courtyard in the blue mosque

the internal of the dome

from the side view

       

           from the garden,
           see those dome that support one another

After that, we've went to the second attraction on Istanbul that is the museum of Hagia Sophia or Aya Sophia, the citadel of the Constantinople ( the name before Istanbul ), this was once a big church or citadel from the Byzantium empire. This citadel was build as a sign of strength of the Christian empire long ago. All of the brick are specially imported from Rhodes island ( with special seal on every brick ) only to build this citadel. Then, it turned into mosque or masjid after the city is captured by the 4th caliphate of the ottoman at that time, Sultan Muhammad II Al-Fateh or so called Muhammad II the conqueror. He captured the city after and bring peace, in respond to the call of prophet Muhammad 1400 years ago.

"Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will he be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!"

 After the last caliph have been stripped for the face of the earth, the mosque is being turn into a museum form time to time by Mustafa Kamal Attartuk. Well, the 'museum' was tremendous from the outside, but if you analyse and have a closer look on some of the creation from the inside, there were some flaws inside them that happened to be the repair process of the old time because the dome has been collapsed several times before, but still, it's an awesome experience to be in there.

     

Hagia Sophia, one of the biggest attraction in Istanbul

the seal on one of the brick
that been import from Rhodes island

the masts that are tilted slightly
to support the biggest dome above 

the third places n the last for the day is the Topkapi palace, the palace where the sultan n his family lived, some ceremony conducted there, n there was a room for every one to see the sultan and talked about they're problem. yes, they're problem. not the sultan's problem. The Topkapi compartment was so huge that it takes about 3 hours, maybe more, for us to see whats inside it. Plus, inside them, there were some of the royal items such as the emperor cloth, the tributes given to the ottoman empire from other empires, n many more. There were also places to sightseeing the strait of Bosphorus from there as the place was so near to the sea.

the place where people come n complain
about they're problem

a beautiful scenery of Bosphorus strait
 from here

                                   

the place where the sultan break their fast,
with the scenery of the strait of Bosphorus.

in front of the palace gate

In a nutshell, after the first day of my journey, I was very excited to know all about the magnificent & fantastic building & development done at the time of the caliphate. so many things need to be discover, so many things need to be learn about this last Islamic empire, about its architecture, culture, & many more. Furthermore, to be here, to see it for yourself, it was a great opportunity that are no to be missed by me especially.