We donned our impromptu hijabs to enter the Blue Mosque, where 20,000 tiles decorate the walls, and Hagia Sophia built over a Byzantine cathedral. In Muslim culture, depictions of people inside religious buildings are not permitted so they got fancy with colorful tiles of geometric, floral, and Arabic calligraphy designs instead. After much tile and error they found that tiles with an 85% quartz composition achieved legendary luminosity and resistance to fading. The Topkapi Palace wowed us with room after room of tilework of brilliant cobalt blues and turquoise, especially fancy in the harem rooms.
