A good night’s rest. Our internal clocks set more easily travelling east for some reason. We are starting to meet some interesting people already. Actually, about 40 of us in our tour. The gentlemen we ate breakfast with is travelling alone. He lives in Santa Rosa and is a sculpture/painter. His last travel adventure was when Egypt collapsed earlier this year. His tour group “battled” their way to the hotel, where they were surrounded by tanks until the military could escort them back to the airport a few days later to fly out again. We hope for less excitement on this adventure.
This picture below is of the Hagia Sophia Museum. Interesting history. This was first build as a Roman basilica in 537 AD, and is today still the 4th largest domed building in the world. However, in 1453 is was “converted” into a Mosque! It remained a mosque until Turkey become a Republic in 1935 when it was restored and became a museum.
Part of the restoration that will continue for decades to come is removal of the plaster placed 550 years ago covering all of the Christian mosaics placed when the church was built 1500 years ago!
Because the country just finished celebrating their 80th anniversary of the Republic, there were no scaffolding in the museum. Very rare indeed. Scaffolding is ALWAYS in the domed portion as they continue to removed plaster.
Finally, an interesting piece of trivia: When Muslins pray, they always bow in a southeasterly direction toward Mecca, Prophet Mohammed’ birthplace. Indeed, this Christian church “faces” Mecca. But, you note that the church was built 33 years prior to Mohammed’s birth in 570 AD, and it was built as a Christian church! How could this be?
A simple answer: Looking at a map, one sees that the church faces Mecca, AND Jerusalem. Yes, a line scribed from Istanbul to Mecca passes through Jerusalem. Hmm.
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