Istanbul, Turkey

August 31, 2024:

FLIGHT FROM DENVER TO ISTANBUL:

We flew direct from Denver to Istanbul on our way to Sofia, Bulgaria – 11-1/2 hour flight. Our Turkish Airlines plane was full, and we had good service, good food.

Direct Flight from Denver to Istanbul

It was interesting that Turkish Airlines indicated how much time until Muslim Prayer times, and the direction of prayer.

Muslim Prayer Times and Direction on flight

The Istanbul Airport also displayed a sign for No Smoking, a Mosque and a Multi-Faith Pray Room.

No Smoking, Mosque and Multi-Faith Pray Room Sign

September 13-17, 2024:

OUR ACCOMMODATION IN ISTANBUL:

Our accommodation in Istanbul for four nights, the Agora Guesthouse, was located in Old Town, a short walk to the Sultanahmet Tram stop and most of the major Old Town sights. It had a nice patio where we could eat our free breakfast outside.

Agora Guesthouse – Photos: Booking.com

Our hotel Wi-Fi password was very cute, to say the least…

Hotel Wi-Fi Password

HISTORIC CORE WALK:

Sultan Ahmet Park:

This park was the starting point for our Historic Core Walk of Istanbul, in the heart of Old Town (a short walk from our Old Town Hotel). At the fountain in the center of the park, we had a view of the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, and the Haseki Baths.

Fountain and Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque

Haseki Baths

Views from the fountain in Sultan Ahmet Park

Blue Mosque:

Built between 1609-1616, this impressive mosque has six minarets. Why is it called “Blue Mosque?” There are two stories: the first, more common one is that the interior is covered in Blue İznik tiles. The second is: many years ago, ancient sailors who sailed by the mosque on the Marmara Sea saw the blue colors of the sea reflected in the mosque.

Blue Mosque and its Minarets – Photo: britannica.com

Entrance to the Blue Mosque

Dome

Interior

Fountain and Inner Courtyard

Exit from the Blue Mosque

Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque:

The Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque is a mosque and former church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in AD 537.

As of January 15, 2024, foreign visitors are led to the Upper Gallery, where they are only allowed to look down on the Nave and prayer area. Some of the mosaics in the Mosque are covered or unavailable for viewing.

Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque

Upper Gallery

Nave from the Upper Gallery

Calligraphic Roundels

Dome

Seraphim

Covered Mosaic of Mary and the Christ Child

Minbar

Mihrab

Sultan’s Loge

Mosaic of Emperor John II Komnenos and his wife Irene with Madonna and Child

Empress Zoe Mosaic

Deesis Mosaic

Vestibule Mosaic of Justinian, Mary and Child, and Constantine

Fountain

Milion Stone Column:

The Milion was a marker from which all distances across the Roman Empire were measured. Erected by Septimus Severus in the 3rd century AD in the city of Byzantium, it became the zero-mile marker for the empire upon the re-founding of the city as Constantinople in 330 AD.

Milion Stone Column

Basilica Cistern:

The Basilica Cistern, or Cisterna Basilica, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey.

Basilica Cistern

Medusa Heads at the bottom of two columns

Caferağa Madrasa:

Just west of Hagia Sophia and hidden down a small stone staircase is the Caferağa Madrasa (Caferağa Medresesi). It was built for Cafer Ağa by legendary Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan (c. 1490-1588) in 1559.

The madrasa was renovated and turned into a cultural center in 1989. There are 15 classrooms and exhibition rooms surrounding a courtyard. Traditional Turkish arts such as calligraphy, jewelry, and ceramics are made and sold there.

Caferağa Madrasa

Bust of Mimar Sinan, chief Ottoman architect, engineer and mathematician for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murad III

Hippodrome:

This oblong square—five football fields long—was once a chariot-race course.

The Hippodrome

Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius:

This served as the race track’s center point, anchoring the raised platform (the spina) that the chariots raced around. Sixty feet tall and made of red granite, the obelisk is very old—dating from 1,500 years before the birth of Christ.

Egyptian Obelisk of Theodosius

The north side of the panel below the obelisk shows the citizens of Constantinople with the obelisk on its side on the bottom (being raised to its new location – the Hippodrome).

North side of the panel

The west side of the panel below the obelisk shows the citizens of Constantinople kneeling at Theodosius’ feet, thanking him for the obelisk.

West side of panel

The south side of the panel below the obelisk shows Theodosius at his private box with chariots racing at bottom.

South side of panel

The east side of the panel below the obelisk shows the chariot race is over and Theodosius gives a laurel-wreath to the winner.

East side of panel

Serpent Column:

To commemorate the Greek victory at Plataea in 479 BC a votive offering was dedicated to Apollo at Delphi. Likely cast from the captured bronze weapons and armor of the defeated Persians, the monument represented three serpents, their intertwined bodies forming a serpentine column and their heads, the jaws open, stretched out to support a golden tripod.

The tripod was stolen by the Phocians in 355 BC but the bronze column survived, only to be appropriated by Constantine to decorate the central spina of the Hippodrome in his newly founded capital of Constantinople.

Serpent Column

Walled Obelisk:

This 100-foot-tall stone pillar was once covered in gilded bronze. It was renovated in the 10th century by the Byzantines to celebrate their victories over enemies.

Walled Obelisk

German Fountain:

This octagonal structure—with a Byzantine-style dome atop eight porphyry columns—is a public water fountain, a gift of a German Kaiser.

German Fountain

Fountain of Sultan Ahmet III:

This fountain was built under Ottoman sultan Ahmed III in 1728, in the style of the Tulip period. It was a social center and gathering place during the Ottoman period of Constantinople.

Fountain of Sultan Ahmet III

MUSEUM OF TURKISH AND ISLAMIC ART:

The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts was the first museum in Turkey to bring together works of Islamic art. It was founded in 1914 as the Museum of Islamic Foundations and was renamed the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts after the declaration of the republic and moved to its present location in the 16th-century Ibrahim Paşa Palace in 1983.

Remains of the Hippodrome

Samarra Period

Raqqah Ceramics

Umayyad (660-750) and the Abbasid (700-1250) Periods

Damascus Documents

Middle Eastern Handiwork (12th-15th Century)

Display on Carpet Making

Selçuk Empire Arts and Objects

Mamluk Metal and Glasswork

Turco-Mongolian Art (13th-20th Century)

Holy Relics

Ottoman Carpet

Selçuk Carpets and Crafts

Uşak Carpets and Artifacts

Ethnographic Hall

ISTANBUL ARCHAEOLOGY MUSEUM:

This museum houses an extensive collection of classical statuary and sarcophagi plus exhibits documenting İstanbul’s ancient, Byzantine and Ottoman history.

Istanbul Archaeology Museum

Tabnit’s Sarcophagus and Mummy

Sarcophagus of a man in Greek style

Lycian Sarcophagus

Satrap Sarcophagus

Bust of Osman Hamdy Bey – Father of Turkish Museums

Alexander Sarcophagus

Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women

Statue of Bes

Greek and Roman Sculpture

Gold Wreath

Medusa Head in the Museum Garden

EATING IN OLD TOWN:

Chicken Kebob at Sato’s Restaurant:

We enjoyed the chicken kebob cooked in front of us at Sato’s Restaurant, around the corner from our hotel.

Chicken Kebob at Sato’s Restaurant

Inci Terrace Restaurant:

And the views from the rooftop Inci Terrace Restaurant a block from Sato’s…

Views from the rooftop Inci Terrace Restaurant

TOPKAPI PALACE:

The Topkapı Palace, or the Seraglio, served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans from the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856.

Imperial Gate and Walls of the Palace

View of Istanbul from the Palace

Gate of Salutation and Second Courtyard

Kitchen Complex

Confectionery Kitchen

Gate of Felicity

Armory

Halberdiers’ Dormitory

Harem Complex

Audience Chamber

Fountain

More views from Topkapi Palace

Imperial Throne – Treasury

86 Caret “Spoonmaker’s Diamond” – Treasury

Golden Cradle – Treasury

Topkapi Dagger – Treasury

Ceremonial Armor of Mustafa III, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire – Treasury

Other Items – Treasury

Library of Ahmet III

OLD TOWN BACK STREETS WALK:

This walk follows Rick Steves suggested walk through the back streets of Old Town, Istanbul.

Dynasty Cemetery

Çemberlitaş (Burned Column)

Nuruosmaniye Mosque

Grand Bazaar

Beyazit fire-watch tower

The “Back Streets”

Spice Market

Eminönü Square

Mosque of Süleyman the Magnificent

WALKING THE GALATA BRIDGE:

The Galata Bridge (Galata Köprüsü) is a 490 meter long drawbridge found in the Golden Horn estuary, which unites the old Istanbul with its more modern area.

Walking the Galata Bridge

NEW DISTRICT WALK:

This walk strolls the length of İstiklal Street (İstiklal Caddesi) – the city’s jam-packed main pedestrian drag north of the Galata Bridge. Lined with art nouveau façades, cafés, restaurants, pubs, bookstores, music stores, art galleries, cinemas, theaters, and a rainbow of other shops, İstiklal Street is the most cosmopolitan part of European Istanbul.