A few precursory notes, even though it's been two days now, I'm going to try to break my days into separate posts. That should help keep things a little more organized. It's also easier for me to think about things in chunks like that. Also, I tried uploading pictures the last time I tried to blog, but the application I am using to blog doesn't let me insert pictures like I want to. So instead I think I might upload the pictures elsewhere and then provide a link or something. That's if everything works perfectly. We will see how that goes.
Sultanahmet - it's the neighborhood where I'm staying. It's where the Ayasofya and the Blue Mosque, as well as a bunch of other historic sites are. Actually there are historic sites everywhere, but there are more of the bigger ones here.
I thought I would start off my first day by following a self-guided tour of Sultanahmet that I found in the guidebook I have. It said it would take about four hours to walk the whole thing and take time to see everything. It started at the Ayasofya (That's the Turkish name for the Hagia Sofia, one of the largest churches built. I believe it has the largest dome roof for a church. It was built by Justinian and Theodora, two important people in the history of the church. It was later turned into a mosque when the Muslims took control of the city. In the early 20th century it was declared a museum by Ataturk.) at about 9:00 in the morning.
Three hours later my battery was dying because I had been taking so many pictures. I hadn't left the Ayasofya because there was just so much to see. I also was going very slowly because paid for the audio tour, and so I could listen to each station at my own pace and take as long as I wanted. I ended up taking over 300 photos while I was there. I''m writing all of this about what I did rather than describe the place because I wouldn't do it justice. Even my photos wouldn't do it justice. It's big. It's old. You can tell that there is a lot of history in it. You can see how it used to be a church, and then how it was converted to a mosque. It's a very odd combination of Christian and Muslim decorations. Of course, it wouldn't have looked like that when it was in use, since a lot of the parts that are Christian (such as the parts of murals that still exist) have been restored since it was converted to a museum.
After I was done with the Ayasofya (luckily my camera battery had died right as I was finishing up there. I hurried through the end to get the pictures I wanted, but I got them for the most part) I went back to my hostel to start charging my camera battery while I ate lunch. After lunch it was still charging, and I was rather tired (I still hadn't caught up completely on my jetlag), so I thought I would take a short nap. A short nap turned into a long one, which unfortunately means I missed seeing some things in the afternoon while they were still open. Fortunately there is still a lot to do even at night, and Sultanahmet didn't feel unsafe at night. It was still early evening, though, when I woke up, so I wandered around Sultanahmet, and roughly followed the path I was planning on following earlier that day. I tried to find the hippodrome (that's where you race horses, for those of you who don't know what a hippodrome is. It was the center of public life in Constantinople for hundreds of years), and then realized that it doesn't exist anymore because it was torn down. there are three pillars that would have been part of the racetrack, though, that are still standing. So when the guidebook said to find the hippodrome, I wasn't looking for any building. Instead I found a plaza with two large obelisks and a bronze pole that was broken. They marked parts of what used to be the hippodrome.
I also walked down to the shore of the Sea of Marmara and walked along the coast for a while. You can see some of the old sea walls and parts of old buildings that have broken down over the years. It was sort of cool to see. After that I wandered back up for supper and then to the Blue Mosque, which was still open. By then it was dark, but it was well lit. The mosque was built to rival the Ayasofya in grandeur. It does a good job being big and grandiose, but I think the Ayasofya has it beat. The architectural genius that had to go into the Ayasofya to keep the dome standing without pillars like in the Blue Mosque is rather impressive. That doesn't mean the Blue Mosque isn't pretty. It is quite something to see in it's own right. After that I wandered around Sultanahmet for a while on my own, and then went back to the hostel.
It was a full day, even though I had spent a good part of my afternoon catching up on jetlag. I'll post pictures once I figure out how to do that
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