The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey

Seriously one of the greatest places on earth. The architecture is impeccable. The size is immense. The history is rich with religious fervor and conflict. This place went from a Christian church to a Muslim mosque, to a museum. This place definitely lives up to its name Hagia Sophia, meaning "Holy Wisdom."

The Byzantine empire built this building around 300 AD. It wasn't until like 500 AD that they got the current structure. When the Ottomans took over Constantinople, now Istanbul, they converted this building into a mosque. They covered all of the Christian symbols and personages (thank goodness or else we wouldn't have these original pictures todays). They then put up their signatures of the Imams (at least that's what they are called by the Sunni Muslims). That's why you see the signatures and virgin Mary and baby Jesus in the the second picture. Seriously, what other religious building contain both Christ and the Imams? It's amazing how both religions truly revered this building. Kind of reminds me of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Also, the picture at the bottom with Jesus in the middle is the first depiction of the Jesus that we all imagine. Every other artist painted/drew/sculpted Jesus to look like this painting (or at least His features). This was such a cool sight.

If you had to go to Europe, go to Turkey. Turkey is one of the most amazing countries' anyone can ever go to. This is something that should be on everybody's bucket list. I definitely want to go back again.

Pergamon, Turkey

This place is unreal. You'd think you'd find the best Greek ruins in Greece, but our teachers said that you can find the best Greek ruins in Turkey. 

I'm glad I took History of Philosophy 1 (PHIL201) the semester before I left for the Jerusalem Center. My professor talked about some of the places that we visited in Turkey, including Pergamon. I felt like I was able to have a greater appreciation for these places because of this class. These places have such rich history.

Turkey = Gorgeous

These pictures cannot even justify how glorious Turkey is.

Turkey is way too gorgeous for me to only post these pictures. So, there will be more pictures to come.

The Grand Bazaar

I have never been so overwhelmed with shopping, ever. We went to the Grand Bazaar during our first full day in Turkey. This place was huge. This place has over 3000 shops. We saw a tiny fraction of the Grand Bazaar considering we only had half an hour to look around. There was a ton of gold, diamonds, jewelry, scarves, carpets, souvenirs, clothes, Turkish delight, etc all over the place. There was quite a bit of wedding dress stores as well. I must say, I have never seen such gorgeous wedding dresses. They were even cheaper than dresses in the U.S. considering how beautifully made all of the dresses in Turkey are. A fellow Jerusalem Center student who is engaged said she might return the wedding dress she bought in the states and order a dress from Turkey.

What was annoying is that I did not exchange money before then, so I couldn't buy anything at that time. I was bugged because there was so much things that I wanted to buy there. We did not even have the chance to go back to the Grand Bazaar. When I go back to Turkey, which is a must, I will definitely dedicate a whole day being in the Grand Bazaar.

More posts on Turkey in the future...because it is the 4th greatest place in the world (inside joke).

The Diminishing Rain Cloud

On a cliff side at Assos overlooking the Aegean Sea, Huntsman's class held a devotional. We were facing a rain cloud that was coming straight at us. I remember thinking to myself before the devotional, "We better get this devotional done quick or else we're going to get drenched." We talked about Apostle Paul's missionary journey to this city. We spent quite some time talking about him, that I was pretty sure that rain cloud was going to hit us in no time. Once we started singing hymns though, I noticed that the rain clouds started to dissipate. By the time we were in the middle of singing our hymns, the rain cloud was completely gone. We were able to sing in peace. There is no doubt that this was a blessing.