The Blue Mosque is opposite the Ayasofya. The latter is no longer a functioning mosque. The Blue Mosque is.

See yesterday’s post for a vertical pano from a balcony inside the Ayasofya.

Yes, the scaffolding alone is pretty impressive.

We spent a couple of hours walking north from the Golden Horn past old Ottoman palaces (now museums), and through a couple of university campuses to get to this location. We’d seen pictures of the view before we left, and it’s spectacular.

There are cafés along the plaza here too. Not the most heavily touristed area. Recommended!

When the Aya Sofia, or Hagia Sophia, was built between 532 and 537, it served as an Orthodox basilica, then when the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, it was converted to a mosque. Now it is a museum. During the time that it was a mosque, most of the mosaics were plastered over. This image shows the Theotokos (Virgin Mother and Child) mosaic, along with one of the medallions showing an Islamic inscription.