April 11 - Istanbul - Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosques, Grand Bazaar and Topaki Palace

Today dawned cool and rainy.  Not a good way to start the trip.  We met Erdal, our guide for our entire Turkey trip, in the lobby and piled into our rather large van for a tour around the city.

First stop was near the Hippodrome (the Square of the Horses).  There were some very picturesque and colorful buildings at our drop-off point.

Not much of the Hippodrome remains but the large, long plaza (the area covered by the original Hippodrome) and a couple of large pillars. 

The Hippodrome dates to the Byzantine era and was inspired by the Circus Maximus in Rome (known for chariot racing…think Ben Hur).

From there we visited the Blue Mosque.  This was building in the early 1600 hundreds.  It is actually the Sultan Ahmet Mosque (named after the founder) but tourists call it the Blue Mosque because of all of the blue tiles.  Unfortunately, it was undergoing massive restoration so there was a lot of scaffolding in the interior.

Next stop was the Hagia Sofia.  This building started as the Church of the Divine Wisdom and was dedicated by Justinian in 537AD.  Five centuries later it was converted to a Mosque after the Turkish conquest of the area.  It is considered one of the great buildings of the world and it was truly impressive.

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More Hagia Sophia
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From there we visited Topaki Palace.  This was the residence of the Ottoman Sultans until the 19^th century.  There was a massive wall around the large complex.  The Palace wasn’t one building but many buildings and parks.

Fortunately we were able to take photos inside so we can share some of the opulence that was the Ottoman Empire.

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More Topaki Palace 

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We finished at the Grand Bazaar.  It is grand, covered arcade and there were certainly very interesting shops.  But we bought nothing.

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More Grand Bazaar
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Some views from our tour in Istanbul.

Suleymaniye Mosque in foreground

It never totally cleared up during the day but it did stop raining, so we didn’t get too wet.