Blue Mosque video

Here is the promised Blue Mosque video. We made it in iMovie using footage we got with Hannah's Flip video camera. Don't worry, it's only about 1:18 long.



If you guys like it, we might make another video of the Hagia Sophia, which we visited today. I had to pick up my jaw off the floor several times, especially upon seeing the amazing gold mosaics. It's interesting that the iconoclastic Ottoman Turks who sacked the city in 1453 elected not to destroy these beautiful mosaics, instead letting them remain as they converted what was once the world's largest Christian church into a mosque.

Also, today we let ourselves be talked into a half-day Bosphorus cruise and city tour, which was probably one of the funnest things we've done so far. While earlier today we were bemoaning the omnipresence of tour buses, we soon found ourselves riding one toward the shore. It was amazing seeing just how huge Istanbul is, since its tiny neighborhoods easily mask the city's true size (pop. 12~20 million). Perhaps the most sublime moment was as we were sailing back to port past Old Istanbul as a hundred mosques all sang the call to prayer in near unison.

And oh yeah. Guess what woke me up this morning just before sunrise. *shakes fist*