Hi everyone. Todays blog is about my first day in Istanbul. On the 1st of June, we visited two mosques - the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. They are located in Sultanahmet Square. One very tiring thing was, we walked the whole way. We walked the whole day and I walked 20721 steps.
First, let's talk about the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque has six minarets and eight domes. All of you might be thinking, the Blue Mosque is called the Blue Mosque because its blue but, no. It's called the Blue Mosque because its windows are blue. By the way, lets make a short form for the Blue Mosque - lets call it BLM. A thing to note about the mosques in Turkey is, there is no air-conditioners in the mosque but the marble stones in the mosques are the ones that are making the mosques cold.
The inside of the BLM is full of nice decorations on the dome and there are two areas for praying. The ladies area is smaller than the men's area. This is because every Friday the men have to go and pray but for ladies they just go when they can.
My family and I, went to a park called Gulhane Park. We spotted something kids will like up a hill which was a playground. Subsequently my sister and I raced up the hill to get to the playground. After some time, we left the playground to go for lunch.
After lunch, we went to the Hagia Sophia. Lets also make a short form for Hagia Sophia - lets call it HS. HS is much more older than BLM but, it is not the oldest mosque in Turkey. The oldest mosque in Turkey is the Arap Mosque which is also placed in Istanbul. It was completed in 1325. The oldest Mosque in the world is the Quba Mosque and placed in Saudi Arabia. HS was initially a church then a mosque then a museum and since 2020 it was reconverted into a mosque.
Hagia Sophia has a big green mat and many hanging lights
ladies have to wear a 'tudung' when entering all the mosques
I like this chandelier the most
After that, we went to eat ice-cream. I had vanilla ice-cream my sister had chocolate ice-cream. I didn't like the ice-cream because it was not sweet and it was milky. My sister ate her ice-cream happily. For the ice-cream, the seller will play with you. First you will have to catch the ice-cream which is impossible to do. He will pretend like he is about to drop the ice-cream but he wouldn't. Then, when he gives you the ice-cream with a tissue, and you try to take it, he will make sure you only get the tissue. Then he will say bye bye. Don't worry, in the end he will give it to you.
On the first day I had fun exploring but it was very HOT. I liked Hagia Sofia and the playground more than anything that day. See you in my next blog bye.
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