This city is ancient Byzantium, later renamed as a tribute to Emperor Constantine to Constantinople. It is now the fourth largest city in the world. It lies on the Bosphorus Strait and its harbor is known as the Golden Horn. It lies in both Europe (Thrace) and in Asia (Anatolia). Today we walked, bussed, ferried, and taxied from Europe to Asia and back again!
We began our trip this morning the the ancient Roman Citern. It was built during the time of Justinian around 500 AD and was constructed on columns taken from the ancient temples, 336 of them. The cistern provided water to Hagia Sophia and other sites nearby. In fact, even today, after 1500 years, the water is so pure and clean, that large fish thrive inside!
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One of the interesting details is the fact the columns don't match and in many cases had to be retrofitted to match each other - some had to be cut and some had to be extended. Also, there are two Medusa heads from an ancient pagan site that were used and were placed upside down - likely as an afront to the Medusa!
I managed a photo in this dark and damp place, despite the fact I wasn't permitted to use a tripod. The solution? I placed my camera on my backpack and set the timer for a 4-5 second exposure and used an LCD flashlight to light up the head and column!
We also visited Hagia Sophia - one of the oldest basilicas in the world as well as one of the largest. It was also constructed during Justinian's time and remained the center of the Eastern Orthodox religion for 1000 years. When the Ottoman Turks invaded in the mid 1400's, they converted the church into a mosque. Many of the icons and Christian relics were covered over or removed. However, in some cases they merely whitewashed over Christian tile work, which actually helped preserve them. In the 1920s, Ataturk ended the Ottoman rule and the mosque was converted to a museum. Today restoration is being done for an international Expo to be held in Istanbul next year.
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Well, it is late and we saw a LOT more, but that will have to wait for the next post!
