On the opposite side of the plaza: the somber yet beautifully intricate Blue Mosque






Just a few minutes walk and best to be seen with the Ayasofya as a pair is the SultanAhmed mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque.

A rose garden greets you as you walk in and a large courtyard where believers perhaps pray if they are not able to enter inside the humongous mosque.

Although it is a mosque and many tourists visit there, tourists are allowed to take photos as long as they do not disturb followers there who have come to pray. It's a carpeted area and you take your shoes off as you enter (just as in Japan) so it's more conducive to kneeling for your prayers.

Inside are all sorts of intricate patterns, as well as the names of the prophets written in Arabic script.
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LINK:
Wikipedia entry on the Blue Mosque

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Ahmed_Mosque