Istanbul. FKA: Constantinople. FKA: Byzantium.

The flight from London to Istanbul is just under 4 hours. 

Istanbul is located on the Bosporus Strait, which is the link between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

The city straddles two continents with one foot in Europe and the other foot in Asia. This made it a strategic location as a transit for trade, commerce.... and a magnet for armies to conque

It was originally settled as a Greek Orthodox colony called Byzantium in about 660 BC.

Then in 330 AD the Romans invaded and created the Byzantine Empire. The Romans renamed the city Constantinople (after the Roman Emperor Constantine I). At that time, Christianity had become Rome's official religion.

The city prospered and flourished and was a cultural centre in addition to being a significant trading hub between eastern and western cultures.

Fast forward to the Holy Wars and Crusades where Christians were fighting Muslims, which was pretty brutal stuff.

In 1453 the Christian Roman Byzantine empire fell to the Muslim Turkish Ottoman army.

To this day, Istanbul is one of Turkey's jewels. It is the largest city in Turkey, the 5th largest in the world, and is currently becoming one of the world's top tourist destinations.

It is a fascinating city, and in the sake of brevity, and everyone's sanity, I will talk about my two highlights: The Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. 

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia was built by the Romans in 532 - 537AD as the Church of Holy Wisdom. At this time the Byzantine Empire was the largest and most powerful state in Europe.

For nearly a thousand years Hagia Sophia was the world's largest cathedral.

Building materials were brought in from all over the Roman Empire - large stones from quarries in Egypt, green marble from Thessaly, black stone from the Bosporus region and yellow stone from Syria. It was a major employer - over the 5 years it took to build the cathedral more than 10,000 people were employed.

The size of the freestanding dome was an architectural feat. Due to damage from an earthquake and then a fire, the dome has been restored several times.

In 1453 an Ottoman army stormed Constantinople. Three days after the victory (during these 3 days think massive pillaging, destruction, blood, guts, gore, etc. ) Mehmed II triumphantly entered Hagia Sophia and converted what was left of it to the city's leading mosque.

When it was converted to a mosque, the majority of the remaining Christian relics and icons were removed. It had been adorned with beautiful mosaics, which were then covered with plaster.

It served as a mosque until the 1931 when it was converted to a museum, as it still exists today.






In a few places Christian icons have survived, or been uncovered and restored, and exist beside the Muslim icons.

The Blue Mosque

The Blue Mosque's official name is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque.

Ahmed I commissioned the building in 1609 and it was completed in 1616. Because it was built by a Sultan (for royalty) it has six minarets.

It was built on the site of the original Byzantine Palace and it is facing the Hagia Sophia. (I guess that could be described "ironic", or, as the "spoils of victory"...)

The Blue Mosque isn't really blue on the outside, but it derived its anglicized name from the 20,000 small blue mosaic tiles inside the mosque. There are 50 different tulip designs, other flowers, fruits and cypress trees.

It is a combination of Hagia Sophia's Byzantine Christian architecture and traditional Islamic architecture. It has one main dome and 8 smaller domes.


The Royal Kiosk for the Sultan is higher and separate from the crowds. It is not for segregation, but, for security reasons.

Shoes are removed on entry and the floors are carpeted, paid for by donations.

Women are required to cover their heads, but not their faces. The women worshippers are segregated to the periphery of the mosque and it is much smaller than the main section for the men. We were told that is because most women prefer to pray at home.

The mosque is one of the largest mosques in the world.

Shopping:

Okay, one last thing - the bazaars in Istanbul are very interesting. Spices, carpets, silks, etc.

And the leather shops are fantastic. Beautiful buttersoft leather..... ahhhhhh...... but I digress.....

If you visit, I would suggest you bring a few extra Turkish lira, or a few extra Euros, or whatever your currency, and stop in the markets... pick up a leather item.... or two.... or......