Blue Mosque, Haghia Sophia

We visited the blue mosque. Somehow we got in the locals line vs the other entrance for tourists, someone ushered us in there and we were in in 20 seconds. Amazing what the mastery of constructing arches did for early construction. The tiles inside are blue and ornate. It's huge, and it's proportions work - just feels proper and symmetric. 

The hanging lights are too bad that they can't be suspended different as there's so many cables that detract a little from looking up. The windows are nice, I'm sure they'd be even better at the angle/on a day with full sun blazing in.

Outside was rows of tour busses with visitors from Asia. The boat tour/rug guys/trinket sellers really work them over. That touristy square between the two buildings is the only place we really saw pesky touts; where there's busses of prey they'll gather.  Although the underground cisterns looked cool, we elected to forgo the lineup and passed. 

We only viewed the Haghia Sofia from the outside as the lineup was huge. 

We had tea and Turkish delights to recharge for the Grand Bazaar. 

Walked a few blocks to where old and new mix.