Can you go in the Hagia Sophia?
Yep. And there are tons of other cool mosques and all are free to enter.
Some examples. None of these are the most famous mosques, Ayasofya, Blue, SĂŒleyman, Ăamlıca, etc. Iâll leave those for you to discover.
After having seen hundreds of churches inside and out, this is my first real exposure to mosques and I find the architecture pretty fascinating and unique. My (conservative) Mom commented âwow cool buildings!â when I shared some pics. Pretty sure sheâd be put off if she knew they were all mosques, or if she visited and was nearby when a call to prayer began.
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Yeah, itâs against Islamic law (or custom, at least in many places, not really a scholar here for the finer points) to paint or sculpt or otherwise make art of living things, as that is said to be left to God. So you see a ton of art in mosques is cool geometric mosaics or words.
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Glad they didnât shut down the Hagia Sofia to tourists/non-Muslims. I thought I saw somewhere they were thinking about doing that.
It was a secular âmuseumâ when I was there a few years ago, but I guess Erdogan ended that in 2020, so back to a mosque.
Yeah thatâs what I saw - I think Nova on PBS. But I guess tourists can still see it today.
Yea that definitely sounds like something he would do to appeal to his base
This is a long shot but has anyone ever been to a fun/social-ish hostel with a reasonable mix of ages (IE - I wouldnât be the only old guy) in Paris? Iâm going for two weeks at the end of July for a writing workshop. I could stay at an AirBnB or hotel, but if I can find a hostel with a good social vibe Iâd go for that.
I donât care about sharing a bathroom as long as I have my own bedroom, which most hostels offer. Google has a few candidates but itâs hard to tell from the site what the place is really like.
I was at the old end of the crowd at hostels in my early 30s man
In my hosteling experience, the pricier ones tended to have older tenants and less noise. I think if you see a hostel with user reviews that talk about nice bedding and getting a good nightâs sleep, youâll probably get what youâre looking for.
Itâs not the same everywhere. In Central America there are places with a good mix of ages. Theyâre really like a hostel and a cheap hotel combined. But yeah ParĂs seems like a long shot for that.
Also I think Iâm old enough now that the 22-year-olds see me as a funny old guy whoâs like their Dad, rather than a creepy 35-year-old who might hit on them.
In Costa Rica (at one of those cool hostels like Iâm looking for) I met a 30-ish woman over breakfast and we agreed to check out San Jose together for the day. Right off the bat she mentioned her boyfriend about five times, which was four times more than necessary for me to get the message that it was not a date. I was just honored she considered me young enough to be a threat.
Good call on the reviews. Iâll look for that.
Or I could book one of these:
Epic bro!
Kind of a moot point now
You mean other than Charleston?
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For a quick beach trip Iâll take Mexican beaches over US ones. Cheap flights to Cancun where Iâm at, but I fly midweek, might be expensive on weekendsâŠ
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Savannah along with Charleston.
Chattanooga.
Atlanta had a ton of outdoors/hiking stuff within an hour drive if the city.
Denver?
Puerto Vallarta Romantic Zone is one of the best neighborhoods for food Iâve ever visited. Not nearly as interesting if you arenât a fan of seafood though. Also, the PV beaches arenât as good as Los Cabos or CancĂșn area.
MazatlĂĄn is a pretty underrated spot and has a very good MalecĂłn thatâs great for long walks or bike rides. Also has the best historic center of the Mexican beach spots. I wouldnât select it if you only want to chill at a beach/resort though. Beaches also not the greatest.
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Iâve stayed in Airbnbs ~12 times. Each time itâs been a place somebody is operating as a business, so itâs essentially a hotel-type situation. For the first time, Iâm currently staying in an Airbnb that is somebodyâs home. The listing said the owner lives in the back house, but clearly the owner lives in this house and just goes in the back house when he gets a booking. The place is clean, but Iâm definitely in somebodyâs home - thereâs food in the fridge, for instance. And personal items all over the place, like coats hanging on coathooks, pictures on the fridge, etc. I guess this is what Airbnb is really supposed to be. But I am not really digging it, which is silly and probably makes me a jackass. In yâallâs experience, is this a more typical Airbnb situation, or are most properties that people donât live in full-time?
Iâve been in a spare room in someoneâs home, and, like, maybe a primary abode when they were out of it on vacation themselves, but never the primary abode of a homeowner while they moved to a lesser dwelling and without really moving out of their main abode. Thatâs pretty weird.
Those can be some of the better places, provided the owner normally lives there, but is out of your hair during the stay. 2 of our favorite AirBNBs in recent stays were apartments that the owner normally lives in, but vacations often and leaves their apartment for others on AirBNB. You can usually count on a nicely decorated place w/ a good bed/sofa, most of the essentials needed and often extras like a great selection of books/movies.
Itâs pretty common, but usually itâs much more professional. Leaving clothing items, stuff in the fridge and family photos is pretty damn weird. Normally the reviews would reflect thatâŠ