September 10 - Istanbul

We docked in Istanbul around 7 AM having gone through the Sea of Marmara through the night.  What a view as we came in with the minarets of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque on the port or European side and the high rises on the Asian side!

Today we had a Princess tour with just 20 people.  We were very lucky with the guide who accompanied us.  His name is Sinan and Travel & Leisure has written about him as one of the 5 best tour guides in the world.  He has accompanied presidents, prime ministers, and kings and,  today, little old us.  The man had so much knowledge to share with us about the history, culture and religion that it was almost overwhelming. There is so much history in this place that it makes our 400 year Virginia history seem small.  There is evidence that people were settled in the area of Istanbul as early as 7000 BC.  Because of its location straddling the two continents of Europe and Asia, Istanbul has been an important place throughout much of history.

In 340 AD the Roman Emperor Constantine declared the city to be his capital and renamed it Constantinius (after himself) from its previous name of Byzantium.  Constantine was a Christian and 2 of the buildings we saw on our tour were built during the Roman Christian era.  The older one was Hagiya Irene Basilica and the other was the Hagiya Sophia, known by many as St. Sophia.  I was very  interested to learn that neither is really named for a saint.  Hagiya (pronounced Ayah) means divine or holy.  Sophia means wisdom and Irene means peace.  So the two buildings are literally Divine Peace and Divine Wisdom.

Entrance to Topkapi Palace

The first building we toured was the Topkapi  Palace, home to the Ottoman Sultans from their conquest of Constantinople in 1453 until the mid 1800’s when the Sultans built a more modern palace.  Despite its age the palace had running water, hundreds of rooms and was home to as many as 4000 people.  Today it includes the repository of the Ottoman crown jewels, which are absolutely magnificent.  There is an interesting story about one of the principal jewels, an 83 carat diamond.  It disappeared and was missing for years.  A merchant found it in a rubbish bin outside his shop and thought it was a piece of glass.  He traded it to someone else for three wooden spoons.  Someone realized what it was and recovered it for the Turkish people and now it’s referred to as the "wooden spoon diamond."  No photos could be taken in these rooms so unfortunately we can’t show you what it looked like, but trust me, it was magnificent.

Some of the beautiful mosaics we saw in the harem of the Topkapi Palace

Our tour included visits to both the Sultan Ahmed I Mosque ( popularly known as the Blue Mosque) and the Hagiya Sophia.  I’ll tell you more about that because it has such an interesting history.  The building was commissioned by the Emperor Justinianus and was constructed in just five  years from 532 to 537 AD.  It took several more years for the decorations to be completed but the structure was done and it was consecrated as a church in 537 AD.  For nearly 1000 years it was the largest church in the world until the cathedral in Seville was completed in 1520.  It is still considered to be the finest example of Orthodox Christian architecture.  It remained a church with its rich mosaics and paintings until the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Sultan Mehmed II.  Supposedly the Sultan was so impressed with the building that he didn’t order its destruction.  Instead, he had the mosaics and frescoes covered with plaster, ordered the addition of four minarets at the four corners, and the building began a new life as a mosques.  It continued in that capacity until 1935 when it became a museum.  Over the years much of the plaster has been removed and the beautiful mosaics and frescoes are once again visible.  An interesting little fact we learned from Sinan relates to the orientation of the building.  Since Hagiya Sophia began its life as a Christian church it’s laid out in the traditional east to west orientation with the altar at the eastern end of the nave.  Mosques are laid out so that the worshippers are facing toward Mecca.  Mecca lies a little south of east from Istanbul.  Therefore when it was converted to a mosque and the gallery for the muezzins  and the lectern for the Imam were added they were situated slightly off kilter so that the people praying would be facing in the proper direction.  The Hagiya Sophia is also the only place in the world where one can see over the area that would have been the main altar the signs of Allah, Mohammed and a painting of Jesus and Maryall together.

Hagiya Sophia

Hard to see, but on the left is the symbol for Mohammad, on the right the symbol for Allah, and in the middle frescoes of Jesus and Mary

There is so much more that we saw and could write about but perhaps another time.  Just one another thing I should mention since we’re adding a picture of it and that is the Grand Bazaar.  With the sights, sounds, colors and smells of its more than 4000 shops, it was a case of sensory overload for us. This will give you just a taste of our visit.  Istanbul was a city that we would like to visit again some time. 

The Bizarre Grand Bazaar!