Blue Days

Sultan Ahmet 1st wished to build an Islamic place of worship that would be even more majestic than the ex-christian church turned mosque (the Aya Sofya). The Hagia Sophia, better know as the Blue Mosque is the result. The mosque was designed by architect Mehmet Aga, whose unfortunate predecessor was found wanting and executed, so he tried a lot harder. The two great architectural achievements now stand next to each other in Istanbul's main old town square, and it is up to visitors to decide which is more impressive on the outside. On the inside there is no contest as the Blue mosque’s interior walls that are covered with tens of thousands of Iznik blue tiles (hence its name) and more than 200 windows that give it a bright airy magical luminescence.