Revelation Road

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The Second Holy Land

With more biblical sites than anywhere outside of Israel, Turkey's spiritual tourism leads travelers and pilgrims to its ruins.

» LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY

I ask another of the Ultimate Journeys travelers -- Robert Ralston, a 50-something fellow also dressed in shorts, sneakers and a polo shirt -- if he has come to Turkey for religious reasons.

"Well, sure," he says. "But that's like saying you get married for religious reasons. That may be part of it, but you also want to have sex, right?"

"This way," Ali calls out, and we all follow his umbrella out through the gates of Aya Sofia, back to the street. "This way, everyone! We go now to the Blue Mosque."

The Sultan Ahmet Mosque -- also called the Blue Mosque for the cerulean tiles decorating its interior walls -- is just a short stroll away. With six minarets and a vast marble courtyard leading to its main entrance, it is easily the most impressive of Istanbul's thousands of religious buildings. It is also the only Islamic site Ultimate Journeys will take in while in Turkey.

Ali leads us across the courtyard to the non-Muslim entrance, where a team of sextants waits to inspect the tourists and ensure that they are dressed appropriately. Judging from the sextants' exasperated reaction, the Ultimate Journeys group is certainly not.

"Please, please," the men at the door call out, frantically handing electric-blue head scarves to the women of the tour, asking them to cover their hair, their shoulders, their legs. Then they look down at the bare knees of Russ, Dave and nearly every other man in the group, and they begin handing out head scarves to them as well, urging the men to wrap the lengths of fabric around their waists like sarongs. "Please be so kind to cover!" they shout. "Please be so kind to cover!"

Once through this gantlet, we search for Ali's umbrella and join him beneath the hundreds of hanging lamps that light the mosque. He begins his tour again as soon as a dozen or so have found him.

"The front section is for the men doing their prayers," he says. "The rear section is for the ladies. The question is often asked, why they cannot pray together? The answer, very simple: How you can concentrate on God when a lady does like this in front of you?"

Ali bends over prayerfully then makes a show of wiggling his khaki-clad behind in our direction. The men of Ultimate Journeys seem to find this very funny; a few of the women roll their eyes.

Perhaps inspired by this, Rikk Watts spots a few of the male members in the group standing near each other in their blue modesty skirts and can't resist capturing the image.

"Get together now, gentlemen," he says with a grin as his camera jumps to his eye, "or dare I say gentlemen?"

Russ, Dave and Robert pose next to each other, each pulling the hem of his skirt up to show a little ankle.