Hagia Sophia

So on our third visit to Turkey, we finally stopped being so stingy and actually paid the entrance fee of 10 TYL (pronounced yurtles, or yentils, or if you want to be technical, Turkish Lira) to check out the inside of the Hagia Sophia. Totally worth it! No picture can really convey the view from inside the eighth wonder of the world. Awe-inspiring. And to think they built it over 1500 years ago. You just have to check it out in person. The building was the largest of its kind for over 1,000 years. (In retrospect, we should've visited on Turkey visit #1. It would've been far cheaper. Now the dollar is not strong. (Thanks George and Dick. Keep up the good work.) Seriously, many items were three times more expensive this time.)

We had just read "The World Without Us" which talks about what would happen to all of mankind's construction projects if humans simply vanished off the face of the earth leaving everything intact. It's a cool premise. And the book talked about Hagia Sophia as well as other parts of Turkey and Cyprus. I could tell you what it says, but I wouldn't want to spoil it for you.

For the record, we pirated the above pictures from Wikipedia. But here's Senor inside, winning the hearts of the security personnel. (He also took the time to pose for photos with adoring fans, but we didn't capture that on film.)