The Blue Mosque is an incredible holy building and very famous site in Istanbul. Here's a link to more info about it. So this was easily our first major stop and only about 7 minutes walk from our flat. This is a "working mosque," which has one entrance for tourists and another for those coming to pray. Women and men are required to be "modestly covered" out of respect (a.k.a., don't act like an fool in a church), and they offer shawls to anyone who wants them. I saw men with shawls around their waists if they were wearing shorts, for example. We were all barefoot as well--no shoes in a mosque. And I have to say, from my outsider's point of view, that there is something particularly wonderful about being barefoot in a holy building. There's something about your body--the soles of your feet--being in actual contact with the place that I think is wonderful. I didn't have to cover my hair, so my shawl (brought from Doha) is over my shoulders. Hannah likes to cover her hair, so that was her choice (and as a small child, she isn't required to follow the same level of modesty rules...mainly barefeet and respectful behavior for her, which is normal in one way and not in another).
Thank you, kind fellow tourist, for taking a photo of the freakshow.
Trying to describe the feeling inside this mosque and the architecture is only going to result in a let down. Suffice to say that it was amazing in all ways--its size, its magnificence, its sense of peacefulness, the crowds, everything. You can get a sense of the scale from our photo above.
Here is a photo taster of some other views, mainly from the inside (one from the outside at the end):
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