Istanbul Part 2

The next day I decided to head out to the Syrian consulate earlier than the day before to allow myself some time to go see the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia.
I located the Syrian consulate was much easier to find this time, and I got there around 10am(they issued visas from 9-11am) to get my Visa, I figured I have my form filled out, I have my letter of recommendation, I though it would be a breeze, and indeed my time at the consulate was short, I arrived to discover that they had "already issued all their Visas for the day". That ticked me off, and at the time looked set to ruin my whole day.
But it didn't, I decided to make the best of it and headed on down to the Blue Mosque. From the way people pumped this place up it should have been akin to one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, and I admit, the exterior was amazing, the colour, construction, it was stunning, especially at sunset. The interior was in fact quite exquisite, but I couldn't help feel uninspired, and underwhelmed. Yes it was pretty, but all the artwork seemed the same, and very similar to what I've seen in many other places Islamic and otherwise. I might have gotten a different feel for it if I had stayed for a prayer, but I decided to head to Hagia Sofia.
Hagia Sofia originally the most magnificent Cathedral in all of Christendom, converted into a Mosque in the 1200s, and now a museum, is a mixture of Muslim and Christian ideas and art, a place where Emperors were crowned and Sultans said prayers in hidden rooms. This place had culture, history, art, and Grandeur. The Christian Mosaics had been plastered over by the Muslims, who despite disagreeing with the centre of devotion could not ignore the sheer beauty of the art so they took notes before covering it up for the better part of a millennium. Some of them had been uncovred, but the majority were still plastered over.
Now along with the beauty of the art, the place was massive, imagine almost a full football field indoors, built in the year 600. This place not only was huge but it also seemed like the dome was just hovering there, the architecture was monumental in every sense of the word.
I then spent the night wandering around a few markets close by the hostel and then went to have some hookah with a bunch of people including some nice girls from Boston one who was something like a the 2nd cut away from making the US womens Hockey team for the Turin Olympics.

Cats, cats were everywhere in Istanbul, actually all over the Middle East, but it was a particular problem in Istanbul. They weren't afraid of people, because lets face it people were keeping them alive. At one point sitting in front of the Blue Mosque on a bench a Cat literally jumped onto my lap from behind me(I know the physics doesn't make sense, but thats what I wrote in my journal). Normally I love Cats, I like when they pretend to stalk you and then you jump at them, I like when they purr, but when there are this many Cats, I think there is a problem. and that's my piece on Cats.

Tomorrow Final Days and Hours of Istanbul before heading to the Deep South East and Iraq