ISABEY MOSQUE

Our omniscient guide Yesim advised that we reverse our schedule for our visit to Ephesus.  In addition to our lecture on graffiti in the ancient world (mentioned in the Ephesus post), we would spend the morning at Isa Bey Mosque nearby,  and St. John’s Basilica.  After lunch at the silk carpet center we would make our may to Ephesus in the afternoon, when the heat would be higher but the crowds would be fewer.  

The mosque is one of the oldest in this part of the country, built in the 14^th century, in the Seljuck style.  Our guide chose it in part because the imam is friendly to visitors, and happy to have non-believers see the inside of the mosque.  It was an opportunity for us to visit an ordinary mosque to compare it to the grand versions we would see later in Istanbul.  

 

Tom started the visit with s shoeshine.  

 

The mosque had a lovely entrance leading to a courtyard with a central garden.  

The contrast of the green couryard garden with the surrounding hillside was like an oasis in the desert. 

The interior was interestingly and non-symmetrical, with modest decorations.  

There were old-style tombstones along one wall of the courtyard.  Those with turbans at the top are for men, the ones with flowers are for women. 

 It turned out that the imam had retired, but spoke to us about the history of the mosque, and then showed us his shop outside the walls, where Tom got a decorative tile.  

 Off to St. John's Basilica!