Harvard Friends, Princes Island, The Blue Mosque, and Aya Sophia

Harvard Friends

Our LDS branch helped us meet two young couples in our same boat (husbands dragging their wives across the world for purposes of academic research). We quickly made friends and plans for the week. We met for dinner and after Brad and I raved about Ciya the group decided to make the "trek" for the best food in Istanbul. The "trek" (catching 2 subways and 1 ferry to make our way from Europe to Asia) provided us ample time to talk with our new friends and for me especially to be grateful we don't have to make the "academic" sacrifices that they have. They also raved about the food at Ciya.

Princes Island

In order to escape the hot summers in the city, many of the Istanbul families have summer homes/villas on the Princes Island. We also wished to escape the heat and had an island outing with our Harvard friends. We rented bikes to explore the island and went to a beach resort. On the way to the resort I had my first Magnum ( oh heavenly treat where have you been all my life). We played in the Marmara sea and played a dice game called Greed which Brad won- surprise surprise the greediest of us all.

The Blue Mosque & Aya Sophia

Once again I resumed my role as the solo tourist- Brad has been to all of the tourist sites in Istanbul numerous times. I started with The Blue Mosque and was amazed with the ornate structure. Tourists can go inside as long as they are veiled and modest so they dressed me up modestly so I could enter. Inside the Blue Mosque I read some pamplets about Islam- fascinating religion. Across the garden was the enormous truly amazing Aya Sophia- built by the Romans 1000 years before the Blue Mosque as the "greatest church in Christendom" until Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who then converted the Aya Sophia into a Mosque. The Sultan had the frescos painted over and now more than 1500 years later thanks to artistic restoration the the frescos are being restored. The romans were truly amazing daring architects. I do believe the Aya Sophia is one of the 7 wonders of the world.

Lazy Summer Days

Though Brad is working hard in the archives we have alot of down time which lately we fill hanging out in our favorite park- Brad dozing, me reading, finding new dessert shops (I think I had the best chocolate rasberry cake ever made!), and like the Turks playing backgammon.