HAGIA SOPHIA MOSQUE ISTANBUL 3 THINGS YOU MUST KNOW BEFORE YOU VISIT

I'm here in Istanbul Turkey today we are visiting Aya Sofia Aya Sophia officially the Aya Sophia Grand Mosque is mosque not museum anymore and not church anymore it is the number one tourist attraction in all of turkey and frankly hard to get into and I'll explain more about that in just moment Aya Sophia was originally Greek Orthodox church for about thousand years it changed to mosque in 1453 then to museum in the 1900s and quite recently to mosque in 2020. here are three important things to know before you go visit Aya Sophia number one expect huge crowds and several times daily the mosque is closed for prayer or just plain closed without explanation we visited on Wednesday afternoon and waited for three hours in one mile long line in front of the security gate at 4 pm the gates close for the day no explanation we return the next day and waited for one hour in that same security line before entering number two there are no tickets to get in the mosque is free if you find some guide service or guide that says skip the lines with me they're lying show up be patient and check the times before you visit number three bring appropriate clothing for mosque ladies no shorts no revealing clothing and bring headscarf guys your pants must be below the knees despite the long lines and all the hassles we finally got in so let's together take slow and leisurely look around Aya Sofia all right so fear is an architectural Masterpiece that said it is not my favorite mosque that honor goes to the Grand Mosque of Abu Dhabi we visited there about seven years ago and it is truly beautiful despite all the long lines and the big hassle we really enjoyed Aya Sofia in Istanbul Turkey