Whittle Down A Wednesday Surf & Culture Report

 
Lost Boys & Co...

Hagia Sophia or the church of Holy Wisdom is now a museum after being a Christian Cathedral and an Islamic mosque.  They are busy renovating the interior, but that's kind of a dicey project since they have both Christian and Islamic iconography to deal with.  In photo #1 you see the large medallion (probably 15' across) with one of the names of Allah inscribed.  It covers a depiction of one of the gospel writers.  There is one of those in each corner of the dome.  Beneath the medallion is a staircase that leads to the spot where the Imam reads from the Koran.  He never walks up more than about half way, because the top steps are reserved for Mohamed!   Almost every surface is covered with Islamic calligraphy and it's so ornate, many modern Turks cannot read them...

A beautiful morning, chilly at 53.9 in the air and 65.7 in the water.  It was cloudless and the wind was offshore by 2kts.  High tide was at 6:48am +4.1' and low tide will be at 11:47am +3.1'.  We have a weak SSW swell out of 209º at 2.6' and it was a solid 2' and designed to take out an errant ankle, should one appear...

#2 You get a better sense of the enormity of the space inside of Hagia Sophia with this interior shot.  You could fit Notre Dame Cathedral inside the building and you could stand the Statue of Liberty inside of the dome if she put the torch down a bit...  You'll know where to look if she goes missing...

The Blue Mosque (#3) gets it's name from the blue reflection of the tile used to cover the building.  It too is also being renovated and if you look closely at the top of the dome you can see a couple of workers crawling around...  Unlike Hagia Sophia it's a functioning mosque and you have to remove your shoes when you enter and women have to cover their heads and bare shoulders to enter.  They also have separate prayer areas for women and men.  Since there's a lot of prostrating and bowing, they figured men would be distracted...

Turkey is famous for their candies and pastries.  #4 was a cake shop and it could have passed for a jewelry store. 

Istanbul is equally picturesque at night.  #5 of the Blue Mosque, was taken from the mall between it and Hagia Sophia.  Istanbul has a pretty vibrant night life and much like the rest of Europe things don't get started until a bit later than here...

We'll be in Idaho for a couple of days, so we'll take up the report on Monday!  The fall colors are supposed to be great this year and we'll check it out... 

Ed. Note:  I'd also like to encourage our readers to send in some photos and narratives of their travels and adventures.  I know some of you have recently been to Hawaii, Slovenia, Croatia, Portugal and Pismo Beach...   I have fun sharing our stuff (especially when it's surf related) but I'd like to get some of your faves as well...  Thanks!
✠
"When the surf breaks, we'll fix it"
The Professor!!





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