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| Topkapi Palace |
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| Hand-painted tiles |
The theme of travel was "the old and the new", and my first day in Istanbul, I already had a sense of just how fitting that theme was. As I stood on the terrace of Topkapi palace looking out across the Bosporus, I could see the skyline dotted with the domes and spires of mosques built centuries ago mixed in with the skyscrapers of modern day. And I was amazed by how seamlessly integrated religion was with society, in this visual sense, but also in a practical sense. Muslim or not, five times a day the whole city hears the call to prayer over loudspeakers that echo down every street. And five times a day, many people stop everything in order to participate. As strange as it was, it somehow felt natural that, in this land of juxtapositions, these things should come together.
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| Sultan Ahmed (Blue Mosque) |
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| Hagia Sophia |
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