July 2 - Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Mosque)

5 a.m. Wake - Up
Culture Change at its' Best, Not in Tennessee anymore clip

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Dubbed the "Blue Mosque" by Europeans because of its beautiful interior tiles with flower and tree motifs manufactured at the end of the high period of the great Iznik workshops, this is the only mosque in the world with six minarets.

Construction was begun in 1609 under the Ottoman Sultan Ahmet Khan I, who wished to create a place of Islamic worship to rival the Aya Sofya, or Hagia Sophia, constructed under the Roman ruler Justinian II in AD 532 and located across the Hippodrome, the old city’s central plaza. Completed in 1619, the interior of the mosque features a massive dome supported by four grand columns, five metres (16ft) in diameter, as well as characteristic Ottoman tile patterns and brightly-coloured windows.

Hundreds of Muslims still use the mosque for daily prayer and worship. Visitors of all faiths who are modestly dressed may enter the Blue Mosque; special slippers and head and shoulder coverings are distributed at the entrance.The dome is 23.5 meters wide and 43 meters high.

The shrine near the mosque houses the tombs of Ahmet I and his wife Kosem Sultan. On the east side of the mosque is the Arasta, a bazaar filled with souvenir shops. The Hunkar Mansion at the north side is today's Carpet and Kilim Museum.