Serene Sunday-Spice Market

During our time in Istanbul we went to the Grand Bazaar, which is basically a tourist trap.  People go there to experience Istanbul, and all you see is cheap trinkets, everyone there is catering to tourists.  So later that day we went to the Spice Market in Istanbul, which caters to actual Turkish citizens.

There are still a lot of trinkets and nick-knacks, but also local business men.

My favorite part was seeing all the spices piled up, with their very vivid colors.

And the Turkish delight was marvelous, I got some in vacuum sealed boxes that would clear customs, but I loved the texture of the the powered sugar in this above shot.

All of my friends know that I hate sticky things, and so when I first saw these honey combs, I cringed.  Then I took a deep breathe and took advantage of these huge packages of honey.  :  )  I am so glad I did

I love to take pictures of people when I am on my vacations, sometimes I will be walking along and just see the perfect picture.  I love this woman looking into the stalls.

I didn't get a Turkish flag while I was there, but I loved seeing the vivid red of the flag everywhere we went. I also couldn't let a stellar mullet pass by. hahahah.

Men and women would stand outside all of the local mosques and take donations, and they would also sell or loan people shawls to cover up if a person was not properly dressed.  I did not enter this mosque, but I did have to get a shawl on one particular day when my shoulders were not properly covered.  I was very thankful that they were there, because I would not want to offend anyone in their place of worship.

This happens to be one of my favorite pictures from the trip, other than the previous picture.  I love the silhouette, and I love the ethereal quality of the picture.  The only way this would have been better would have been if some of the crows had been flying in the background.  The coloring is a bit off, but that was because I forgot to change my white balance setting after I left the spice market and this picture came out BLUE, hahahah.  I did this twice on the trip and have left my white balance on auto ever since.

I had trouble going to Turkey, I have always been a history buff so I had quite a huge problem with the governments stand on the Armenian genocide, but I truly loved my time in Turkey and would definitely go back in a second.  I know that my photography has improved in the three years since I was there, and by the time I get back there I am sure I will be able to capture the sights much better.

Love Always,

Meg

Serene Sunday- Hagia Sophia

Three years ago, I went to the Hagia Sophia and it was one of the most memorable moments of my life!!!

The Hagia Sophia was built in 500 AD and is the third church to have been built on this site, the two previous chuches had been burnt to the ground.  The church is one of the oldest churches to still be standing.  Then in 1453 Mohamad Mehmed took over Constantinople, and converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque.  Then in 1943 the mosque was converted into a museum.

The Hagia Sophia is just soooo massive, I was just walking around with my mouth hanging open.

I couldn't help but take a picture when another tourist stopped by the massive doors, I was sure that without some kind of comparisson I would not remember the scale of things in ten years.

In this first picture you can see the gold leaf rendition of Jesus Christ and through the doorway you can see Allah's name in arabic.  I had to take a short moment to say a prayer, because in this moment, chrisitanity and islam are co-exhisting, here in this museum.  It really warmed my heart.

I love the warn paint that shows the age of the museum, and the gorgeous stone work.

In order to get to the secound floor, it took about five or so minutes, so I did loose quite a bit of my limited time to get up there, but this first picture just so happens to be my secound favorite picture from the Hagia Sophia, I love it.

This is the actual historic chandelier from the mosque.  Originally they would put candles in each of the glass vials, but today they have been fitted with lightbulbs and are powered by electricity.  The lighting fixtures in all the mosques we visited were breathtaking, and really added charactor to the buildings.

I think this was the last picture I took, I just love the stained glass.  There was a lot of construction going on inside of the Hagia Sophia while I was there, so I will definately have to go back some day.  Istanbul is such a vibrant city, and I can't wait to go back.

Love Always,

Meg

P.S.  These photos were edited with photoshop elements.

Serene Sunday

After a few weeks off from Serene Sunday, I am ready to show some more of my favorite trip pictures.

This is the Ortakoy Mosque, we saw this on the first night we were in Istanbul.  All mosques with more than one minaret (the tall spires) is an imperial mosque.  These mosques were built to show the victory of the empire in a conquest or battle.  

The next Mosque we visited in Istanbul was Sehzade Camii.  Sulieman the magnificent's mosque was under construction, otherwise we would have gone there.

I am really glad we got to see this mosque, which is still an active mosque.  It was not filled with tourists, so we could really explore the inside and did not have to worry about huge crowds.

The decorations inside the mosque were sooooo vivid, this was my first trip with my new camera, so I was still having trouble truely mastering the settings.  I know I am going to have to go back some day and hopefully I will take some better pictures.

 We also got into the mosque at an off time, so thankfully there were no worshipers there at the time, this way I did not have to worry about interupting or offending any one who was there to pray.  Everyone walking around in the backround was part of our travel group.

Next week I will add the pictures from the Hagia Sophia, which is the main reason why I wanted to go to Turkey.  It is truely one of the wonders of the world!!!!

Love Always,

Meg

Serene Sunday

In 2009 I traveled to Turkey and Greece and it was the best trip I have ever been on.  I would go back to Istanbul in a secound.

I can't wait to go through all of my pictures, here is the first day of pictures.

Love Always,

Meg