Blue Mosque / Cistern (By: Jacob)

When we were in Turkey, we went to two very important places in history: the Blue Mosque and the Basilica Cistern.
The first place we went to was the Cistern. The Cistern was an ancient underground water storage spot, built by one of the Byzantine emperors Justinian. In the Cistern there are pathways so people don't have to walk in the water. Inside the Cistern there are 336 marble columns to hold up the roof. I thought it was amazing how they got the measurements so even on everything, even without the modern compasses and technology. One of the best, and one of my favorite parts, was trying to find the two Medusa heads hiding on 2 of the 336 marble columns. It was kind of disappointing though, because all the tourist were taking pictures of it so it was a little too easy.

We got hot chocolate in the cafe inside the Cistern. Then we walked up out of the underground and walked over to the Blue Mosque.

 The Blue Mosque  is a historical and popular tourist attraction in Istanbul. The real name is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, but people call it the Blue Mosque because of it's blue tiles on the dome part of the roof. The mosque was built from 1609- 1616 by the architect named Sedefkar Mehmed Aga. There is a huge courtyard connected to the mosque and we learned all about the lineage from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph and his 12 brothers.  The Muslims believe that they were all Muslim and we learned the Muslim names for each of them. Inside the Blue Mosque was my favorite part because of the architecture. There was a separate space for tourists and men. In the very back there was a tiny area for women. I didn't like how they did that because I think it is a little sexist because the women have to be cramped and men get all the room.