Mavi Cami

In Turkish, mavi means blue, cami (pronounced jahmi) means mosque. In Istanbul, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is known as the Blue Mosque. I dubbed it the Mavi Cami; apparently the more respectful Turks call it the Sultanahmet Camii.

Entering, one must surrender one's shoes. Thus the interior shots here were taken in 2008, when I returned. Since my encounter with a banana peel, I could not face removing the hiking boot into which I had shoved my swollen ankle.


It struck me, on entering the Mavi Cami, that inside the mosque, at least, I understood why Muslims press their faces to the ground while praying. If they looked up, they might be tempted to praise artists instead of Allah.

Bismillah!