Photo of the Week--11/24/08

There's all sorts of interesting architecture to explore in Istanbul, from the Blue Mosque to the Hagia Sophia, but I love mosaic artwork and so this is the photo I'm featuring. You can see the azulejo tilework typical of many Islamic buildings from the Middle Ages (and which we saw in trips to Spain, Portugal, and Tunisia, in addition to this trip to Turkey). The other thing that amuses me about this photo is that it is of a specific place in Istanbul's Topkapi Palace. The name of the place? The Circumcision Room. Boy, of course, was gloriously unaware of either the name or the meaning when I took this photo, as you can tell by the smile. (Back then he would smile for photos. Now I have to bribe him.)