An Afternoon and Evening in Istanbul

 

June 29, 2023 – Istanbul, Turkey

Docked - Arrival: 1:30PM 

After many hours of sailing, 

we arrived around 12:30 pm at the strait of Bosphorus where Europe meets Asia and docked at the port of Istanbul at 1:30 pm and disembarked at 2:00 pm into the Galataport area.   As we sailed into the Bosphorus, both the Hagai Sophia and the Blue Mosque were prominent on the skyline. 

Blue Mosque and Hagai Sophia

Hagai Sophia

The Blue Mosque

The port of Istanbul terminal is very modern and was completed 2 years ago.  

As we got near the end and were exiting into the central city, our guide, John, met us. Emily had scheduled him through Airbnb for a day of touring the important sights of Istanbul.  John is a recent college graduate who is free-lancing as a travel guide.  He is exceptionally fluent in English and very knowledgeable of Istanbul’s history and the sights.  So, off we went.  He immediately explained that we were visiting during Islam’s Sacrifice Feast Festival and that many of Istanbul’s residents have left the city to return to family hometowns and that the city was filled with tourists.  The city’s normal population of 20 million, with about ¼ of these being immigrants.  As we soon found out, the tourist areas of the city were packed with people.  Within a short walk, we boarded a very crowded tram to take us to the area of the Topkapi Palace, Hagai Sophia, and the Blue Mosque.  We exited the tram and walked toward  the Topkapi Palace grounds.  The Palace was the residence of the Ottoman Empire Sultans from 1465 to 1856 and served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire.  The palace complex is located on the Seraglio Point promontory that overlooks the Golden Horn, which is where the Bosphorus Strait meets the Marmara Sea.  The palace is located at one of the highest points close to the sea where the acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium stood.  

We first walked through the Gulhane Park and then proceeded to the entrance area of the Topkapi Palace.  

There we had to wait a long time in a large crowd trying to enter the palace grounds.  

Once through the entry gate (Salutation Gate), we were in a very large open grassy area with lots of trees.  John gave us some bearings of what we would see where.  

We started with the Imperial Council Hall, 

where advisors to the Sultan would meet, and then proceeded to rooms that now contain a huge clock collection and then the arms collection.  The latter room’s holdings contained gifts from other countries to the sultan.  

From there we entered the audience chamber where the sultan received dignities.  

The next building contained a display of Kaftans and other clothing of the sultan.  

In a Line to See Sultan Clothing

Next came rooms with more exquisite gifts from other countries and the gold throne.  

Spoonmaker's Diamond Surrounded
by 49 Smaller Diamonds

Once we stepped outside, we had a great view of the Bosphorus from the promontory point of the palace complex.  

We visited more palace rooms where the sultan enjoyed viewing summer games.  

John with us at Golden Arm Overlook

The Yerevan Pavilion was a heated winter room with a gold and lacquer throne and stained glass windows.  

Leaving the palace grounds, we passed the Hagai Sophia, which we came back to later, and proceeded to walk to the Grand Bazaar.  Once at the Grand Bazaar, we found it was closed due to the religious holiday.  

Entrance to Grand Bazaar

Even the vendors in the area thought it would be open today.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t, but we did get to see the entry doors to the Grand Bazaar, which began in 1461.

Our trek back to Hagai Sophia and the Blue Mosque took us to the Hippodrome that dates from the 4^th century CE and contains one of the large obelisks that stood in the center of the Hippodrome.  

Hippodrome with Obelisk

We then entered the Blue Mosque, which was finished in 1617, through the visitor’s entrance.  The interior is feels very open with a lot of light flowing in through the more than 200 windows in its ascending domes.  The decorations on the walls and inside the domes are all bluish in color, as is all the tile work.  The more than 20,000 Iznik tiles give brilliant, green, and turquoise hues to the interior.  This mosque is unique with its six minarets.  

Now the time came for a break and as John said, “to regain our power” with a coffee stop.  

Our stop was just outside the Hagai Sophia, which has recently been designated a mosque again.  Previously it served as a museum.  Hagai Sophia is the third large church built on this site.  The first two were destroyed during riots in 404 and 532.  Emperor Justinian order the church to be rebuilt and the current church was dedicated in 537 as the largest church in Christendom.  The interior was paneled with costly colored marbles and ornamental stone inlays. Decorative marble columns were taken from ancient buildings and reused to support the interior arcades. Initially, the upper part of the building was minimally decorated in gold with a huge cross in a medallion at the top of the dome. After the Iconoclasm period (726–843), new figure mosaics were added, some of which have survived to the present day.

After Mehmet II’s conquest of the city in 1453, Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque, which it remained until the fall of the Ottoman empire in the early twentieth century.  During this period, minarets were built around the perimeter of the building complex, Christian mosaic icons    were covered with whitewash, and exterior buttresses were added for structural support. In 1934, the Turkish government secularized the building, converting it into a museum, and the original mosaics were restored.  The Hagia Sophia was used as a church for 916 years and as a mosque for 481. In 1934, by order of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the decision of the Council of Ministers, it was converted into a museum and, since then, has been open to visitors.  In 2020, it became a mosque again and a few of the mosaics in the upper areas have cloths draped to partially cover them.  

9th Century Mosaic

John Chrysostom (4th Century Constantinople Bishop)

One of 4 Angels

Mary with Christ Child

Trident from Architect

Mary & Christ Child with Constantine
(presenting the city) & Justinian (presenting
the Church)

A Muslin "Small Group"

Looking up through Central Chandelier & Dome
[a John creation] 

Leaving Hagia Sophia, we had great views of the Blue Mosque.

We walked to the Basilica Cistern, which was built in the 6^th century by Justinian to enlarge the original water storage and filtration system built by Constantine for the city.  The enlarged system covers an area of 105,000 sq ft – capable of holding 2,800,000 cu ft of water.  The weight of the cistern is carried on “repurposed” columns by means of the cross-shaped vaults and round arches of its roof.  This “forest” of 336 marble columns, each 30 ft high, arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns each spaced 16 ft apart. 

The capitals of the columns are mainly in the Ionic and Corithian style, with the exception of a few Doric capitals with no engravings.  The majority of the columns in the cistern appear to have been recycled from the ruins of older buildings, likely brought to Constantinople from various parts of the empire. They are carved out of different types of marble and granite.  The Basilica Cistern's water came from the Water Distribution Centre in the Belgrade Forest, which lies 12 mi north of the city. It traveled via the 3,186 ft Valens Aqueduct, and the original 377 ft Mağlova Aqueduct, which was built by the Emperor Justinian. 

The bases of two columns In the northwest corner of the cistern reuse blocks carved with the face of Medusa. 

The origin of the two heads is unknown, though it is thought that they were brought to the cistern after being removed from a building of the late Roman period.  Neither is there an explanation for the different orientations of the heads.

After exiting the Cistern, we were to head to dinner atop a hotel with belly dancing entertainment.  Once on the very crowded tram 

and considering it was past 10 pm, we decided to cancel that dinner and head directly to the ship.  Also, John could stay with us to direct us to the ship terminal as he was heading home.  Otherwise, we would have to navigate ourselves to the terminal around midnight.  John accompanied us to the terminal entrance.  We so greatly appreciated all that he did as our tour guide for the past 8 hours and wished him the very best.  We highly recommend him to anyone who wants a superb guide in Istanbul.

Once onboard, we went to the Oceanview Café for a late dinner and views of the Istanbul night skyline.

Bosphorus Bridge

Celebrity Beyond at Night (sent by John)

What a fantastic day we had in Istanbul.  We covered a lot of the major sights and walked 8-1/4 miles in doing so.  Certainly, all of us will sleep well!