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Day 39: What would you do on your first morning in Istanbul? Go to the Blue Mosque of course. Like Aya Sophia across the square, the Blue Mosque is visible from miles away and its six minarets make it unique (Mecca is the only mosque to have more minarets, with seven).

Inside, despite the crowds of cruise ship visitors, it was a spectacular sight with warm low-hanging lights suspended by thousands of wires from the magnificent domes and archways above. And throughout the day, and at a very early hour of the morning, the call to prayer rang out across Sultanahmet.