Sunset Over the Hagia Sophia

Wow, yesterday's sunset was so beautiful. The history of the Hagia Sophia is fascinating. It was originally built as a Christian church 1500 years ago, and over the years it has been converted into a mosque. Steven and I have seen several millenia old Orthodox churches turned into mosques around the Balkans. These countries are rich in Byzantine and Ottoman history, and unfortunately for most of the Christian history... the Ottomans did a great job of covering up the Christian history in these areas. The Hagia Sophia is currently being used as a mosque again, (thanks to the shady politics of the current "President" and much to Unesco's dismay), but thankfully, some of the Christian frescoes are still visible. 

It's funny - everyone says that the Blue Mosque is the most impressive mosque in the world, but I found the Hagia Sophia to be much more impressive. It's definitely older than the blue mosque, and the richness of its history is fascinating. 

Steven and I ended up on this rooftop purely by accident. We had intended to see the Topkapi Palace Museum, and when we arrived it was about 1.5 hours to closing time. We thought that that would be plenty of time to see the site - not realizing that it is massive! Steven and I will spend hours and hours reading every detail and chatting about the history of a place - whether it be a museum or physical monument - so, we decided to go back another day where we could spend the time we wanted to spend there. 

We walked only a few meters and a man approached us; chatting all about this rooftop bar. We went upstairs, glanced at the prices, realized that it was a bit expensive for our budget... and then saw the view. We decided that we had to stay, and I'm glad that we did. I had 3 glasses of chardonnay - Steven had 3 pints of Effes - and we chatted for a few hours about everything. We decided that I would one day have a brilliant career in studying social behavior, and that my PHD/brilliant career will take Steven and I all over the world. I'm hoping that after years of studies and publishing my findings, I will maybe have a job as a professor at a university. I'd kill to live in Edinburgh and have a flat there with Steven. Scotland has my heart. 

For Steven, we decided that he was not only going to be a kick ass travel writer, but that he would one day have a bar centered/themed around the tastes of our travels. We'd have beers and cocktails inspired by our favorite beers and flavors all over the world. And, of course, I'll be importing Macedonian wine and serving them in the proper glasses. 

We also decided that we would one day have a travel agency where we give people an experience that we have yet to see anyone do. I watched Steven tell me about this idea/vision/impromptu dream-ish thought for 30 minutes with barely a breath. I watched him get excited, emotional, and passionate about the brilliant way we travel versus the experience that most people get, and how he wants to change the way people think about traveling the world. It was yet another moment where Steven's ramblings were one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

We had the best time chatting and talking about potential dreams, and we pinky promised that in 20 years, we would come back to this exact spot. Hopefully a semblance of these dreams would have come true, and even more hopefully - we will be continuing to live the brilliant and beautiful life that we so clearly see for ourselves. 

We leave Istanbul in 2 days - and for the first time, I don't really feel sad to leave. I'm excited for our Georgian adventures, and to discover yet another new country.