With my sister-in-law, her hubby, and their friend visiting, I was pretty excited to participate in one of Rick's famed tours of our fine city. Usually Rick takes visitors around while I hold down the fort at home. We decided to risk a full day without naps and see what we could see. It was super hot, but well worth the trip to see these fantastic ancient sites. Rick has a gift for holding onto vast quantities of historic info in his head. It was really nice to see him doing what he does so well - teaching and sharing about the history and current culture of our home city. Moo loved spending the day doing anything with Aunt Julie. And Lu loves everything, so a fine day had by all.
Tile mosaics from the Ishtar Gate - one of the gates to the ancient city of Babylon - 575 BC
Not sure where this lion was from, but I got one kid to sit still in front of something old and called it an accomplishment.
Basilica Cisterns - built by Constantine and enlarged by Justinian (6th century AD) - stored water under the city in case of war. Moo and I liked walking on the boardwalks through this mysterious place - especially watching the fish swim in the water below.
Includes an upside down medusa head - no idea why.
After hours of Dad's tour guiding, Lu crashed. She skipped the cisterns.
Egyptian pillar - 1500 B.C. - was placed in the middle of the hippodrome - a horse-racing track. Still looks like new!
Blue Mosque - tourists visits this mosque to see the beautiful blue tiles from Iznik (ancient Nicaea) inside.
A fountain in the courtyard - can you see the rainbow? And my kids making chalk drawings? Waiting for our relatives to see the Hagia Sophia. That is the one tourist place I had seen previously. Rick has seen it a bunch of times, so we waited outside in the shade.
Streams of people enter the Blue Mosque during the holy month of Ramazan. Prayers and Qur'an readings occur throughout the day. The plaza felt a bit like the festivals I used to go to in Chicago - tons of people and different vendors.
