21 May 2011

Our last day in Turkey. It was fun while it lasted, but most of us were ready to go home!

We spent the morning in Bursa where we went to the Grand Mosque, the fifth largest mosque in the world and the largest mosque in Turkey. It was beautiful. Bursa was the first capitol of the Ottoman Empire between the years of 1325 and 1364. The city has many thermal springs and is also the center of Turkish silk industry. We left very quickly for Istanbul so we only got to see the Grand Mosque, nothing more. It was a little disappointing.

We took off for Istanbul to see the Aya Sofia [Hagia Sophia], built by Emperor Constantius in 30 A.D. St. Sophia was for many centuries the world’s largest church and today is the fourth largest one after St. Paul’s in London, St. Peter’s in Rome, and the Duomo in Milan. Throughout its Byzantine history, St. Sophia served as the cathedral of the city where emperors were crowned and victories celebrated. After his conquest of the city in 1453, Sultan Mehment II ordered for the building to be converted into a mosque by the addition of Islamic elements such as a mihrab, a member, minarets, etc. After having served as a mosque for 481 years, the building became a museum in 1934 by the order of Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. It was fun to walk through the Aya Sofia but it wasn’t nearly as informative as when I went with my family. I mostly just wandered and took pictures.

After leaving the Aya Sofia, we headed down to a small bazaar to shop for a few minutes. I got a couple of postcards, a glass ring, a gift for my hermanita, and a banana! The banana was my favorite purchase! I had looked for a banana the entire time we were in Turkey. It was delicious. From the bazaar we went straight to dinner and then straight to the airport to head back to Jerusalem.

We had a delightful time in the airport. Kym and I got ice cream cones. We played games. We chatted with friends. Sister Chadwick and I raced through the airport. Our flight didn’t leave until 11:30p at night so we had quite some time to kill – about three hours. Once we got on the plane, most everyone crashed and slept until we arrived in Tel Aviv. We were all exhausted by the time we got back to the Jerusalem Center at three o’clock in the morning. It was a long day, but it was worth it. The things we saw in Turkey were unforgettable and absolutely beautiful.