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| Terms & Conditions -> ISTANBUL |
Haghia Sophia, or Church of the Divine Wisdom, with its 100 foot wide dome, was consecrated on December 26th, 537, after taking only 5 years, 11 months and 10 days to construct. It was a feat of engineering that would not be matched for a thousand years. It used to contain the emperor's throne on the spot that was considered to be the centre of the world. The church only just survived being ransacked by the Fourth Crusade, whose soldiers broke up and removed the altar and carried off the gold and silver. In 1453, Mehmet the Conqueror stopped his own soldiers from looting it and turned it into a mosque. The walls were whitewashed, and the mosaics were only rediscovered during renovations in the 1930's, when Ataturk immediately converted it into a museum for posterity.
| Chora Church |
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For Byzantine mosaics, this church cannot be beaten. Chora, in the sense of the dedication of the church, refers to Christ and the Mother of God, but literally means dwelling place or land of the living. It was originally built in the 12th century, but rebuilt between 1315 and 1321, and the frescos and mosaics date from this time. Among them, a series depicts the childhood of Mary, important in the Eastern church where it originates from the popular second century apocryphal gospel of Saint James.
| Hippodrome |
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The Hippodrome was the Byzantine racecourse and centre of civilian life (in Latin, hippo means horse and dromos means to run). Between races, spectators would watch dancing bears, jugglers and tight-rope walkers. Executions and public punishments also took place here. Today, three monuments remain: the obelisk of Theodosius I, brought from Thebes, stands on a marble base that shows the emperor and his family in the imperial box; the Serpent Column, which once stood outside the temple of Apollo in Delphi, commemorates the Greek victory over the Persians; and the stone obelisk, the Column of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, erected in 940 CE, that was once encased in bronze guilt but stripped by the crusaders
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| Basilica Cistern |
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The Basilica cistern is the largest of the forty known in the city. It stored drinking water used in dry summers, and had outgoing pipes which watered the gardens of the imperial palace. It is 140m x 70m, can hold 80,000 cubic meters of water, and has 336 columns, many of which were pilfered from other ancient buildings, hence the Corinthian capitals and two Medusa heads. After the Ottoman conquest, the cistern fell into disuse, but was "rediscovered" by a Frenchman in 1545 who became curious about fresh fish being sold in nearby streets. It seems the locals caught them here, and it provided the water for their many wells, too. The scene with James Bond crossing a cistern by boat in the movie From Russia with Love was filmed here.
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Galata Tower, erected in 1348 by the Genoese to protect their colony, although not strictly Byzantine connects intimately with the decline of the Empire. The Genoese were traders who competed with the Venetians. Michael Palaeologus recruited their support to drive out the Crusaders, and in return he gave them the whole district of Galata, granting them the status of a semi-independent colony. When it came to the final showdown against Mehmet the Conqueror, however, the Genoese maintained neutrality and they were once again rewarded, being allowed to retain their businesses and churches.
| Mosaic Museum |
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On June 3rd 1912, when the destruction left by a terrible fire was cleared, the lost remains of the Byzantine Great Palace were revealed. They included the largest and most magnificent 6th century mosaics ever discovered anywhere. The remains were from the floor of an open courtyard surrounded by a portico. Forty thousand small stones were used in every square meter, which means that a total of 80 million were used in all. Today, only a small fraction of the original survives, but these mosaics show amazing scenes such as gazelles drinking water, bears feeding their young, shepherds milking their goats , a small boy playing with his dog, and Byzantine soldiers hunting tigers
| Aqueduct of Valens |
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The Aqueduct of Valens was part of the Emperor's 4th century program of improving the water supply to the city by bringing water from reservoirs in the Belgrade Forest to cisterns in the city centre. More than six of its original 10 kilometers are still standing, mainly because it was well maintained and used right up to the end of the 19th century.
| Topkapi Palace |
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Topkapi Palace, built by Mehmet the Conquerer between 1459 and 1465, was the nerve-centre of the Ottoman Empire for 400 years until the construction of Dolmabache Palace. Like the Alhambra in Granada, it consists of various buildings arranged around a series of courtyards. At one time over 50,000 people worked here.
The Conqueror's Pavilion now houses the treasury, where you can see the 5th largest diamond in the world. The Pavilion of the Holy Mantle contains the Holy Relics of a footprint, hair, tooth, mantle and standard of the Prophet Mohammed as well as swords of the first four caliphs, all brought here in 1517 by Selim the Grim.
The harem, or forbidden area, was where the Sultan's wives, children and female slaves lived under the control of the sultan's mother. The decoration in a number of the rooms is very beautiful. Topkapi is at the same time a palace and a museum of the most wonderful Ottoman artifacts.
| Dolmabahce Palace |
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Dolmabahce Palace, built by Sultan Abdul Mecdit in 1856, stands romantically on the shores of the Bosphorus. This is the exact spot from where Mehmet the Conqueror launched his attack on Constantinople. The harbor that was once here is now filled up, hence the name: Dolmabahce means filled garden.
The European influence on Turkish art is obvious both in the architecture and in the paintings, but other aspects including the layout, with separate men's and women's quarters, are typically Ottoman. Here, you'll see the heaviest chandelier in the world, the enormous Hereke carpets, once made only for the Ottoman sultans, and the clocks, which all show 9:05, the time that Mustafa Kemal Ataturk passed away here on November 10th 1938.
| Beylerbeyi Palace |
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Beylerbeyi Palace, the summer residence of the sultans on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, was completed in 1865 by Sultan Abdul Aziz. The imperial road to the white marble palace passes through a 130-meter long tunnel that was constructed during the time of Mahmut II, earlier in the century. The sultan's European visitors loved the palace, and Empress Eugenie had its windows copied in the Tuileries in Paris.
At the start of the 20th century Abdulhamid II, who had been the first sultan to receive a Christian woman at his dining table, was deposed and eventually imprisoned here. He spent his time carving some of the furniture in the harem (women's quarters) and the selamlik (men's quarters). This palace is particularly famous for its twisting central staircase.
| Blue Mosque |
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The most famous symbol of Istanbul, the Blue Mosque, which was completed in 1617, gets its popular name from the main color of the 20,000 or so Iznik tiles decorating its interior. Its real name, however, is Sultanahmet Mosque, after its sponsor whose tomb is next door. This mosque is unusual because of its six minarets. In Ottoman times, only the sultan and his immediate family could build mosques with multiple minarets, but no one had dared to put six before, as this was considered a sacrilegious rival to the 6-minareted mosque in Mecca. So, why 6 minarets? One story claims that the slightly deaf architect misheard the Sultan: golden minarets (altin minare) was understood as six minarets (alti minare). What a sweet mistake
| Suleymaniye Mosque |
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This great mosque, commissioned in 1550 by Suleyman the Magnificent, was built in 7 years by Turkey's best-loved and greatest ever architect, Sinan, who said, "I have built thee, oh Emperor, a mosque that will remain on the face of the Earth until the final judgment day." Architect Sinan's tomb is in the courtyard outside, and not far away in a walled garden lie the Sultan Suleyman and his wife, Roxelana
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| Rustem Pasha Mosque |
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Rustem Pahsa Mosque, built in 1561, is one of Istanbul's most attractive smaller mosques. Inside, the highest quality tiles from the finest period of Iznik's production take you a world away from the bustling streets outside. Who was the architect? Sinan, of course!
| Rumeli Hisar |
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Rumeli Hisar, or the Strait Cutter, was built by the daring young sultan Mehmet the Conqueror as part of his plan to attack Constantinople. In it he stationed a new type of cannon that had previously been offered by its inventor to the Byzantine Emperor, who could not afford it. With this new weapon, Mehmet promptly sank a Venetian ship, and went on to conquer the city. After the conquest, Rumeli Hisar was turned into a prison before falling into disuse. In 1953, the walls were restored and the space inside beautifully landscaped.
| Archaeology Museum |
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Istanbul's Archaeology Museum has one of the richest collections of classical artifacts in the world, including the famous sarcophagus with friezes depicting Alexander the Great. There are also many earlier items of note, including the world's first written peace treaty signed after the Battle of Kadesh by the Hittites and the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, and many of the other Hittite cuneiform clay tablets found at Hattusha that are on the Memory of the World List. (A copy of this peace treaty has been placed above the entrance to the UN building in New York.) There is also a beautiful tiled corridor with animal reliefs dating from the reign of the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar (604-562 BCE).
| Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts |
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The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds over 40,000 items from Mamluk, Seljuk and Ottoman periods (8th to 19th centuries) and gives a fascinating insight into the cultural and religious history of Turkey. In the ethnographic section is a black goat-hair tent, the type still used by nomads in eastern Turkey today. The upper floors have many fascinating old Turkish carpets, illuminated manuscripts, Turkish miniatures, and decorated wooden Koran cases. All of these are housed in the former Palade of Ibrahim Pasha (1524).
| Sadberk Hanim Museum |
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This private museum, located in a late 19th century Ottoman timber house, combines two important collections. Sadberk Hanim, the wife of the Turkish industrialist Vehbi Koc, bequeathed that her private collection of Ottoman embroideries and costumes should be made into a museum. Later, the museum purchased the collection of Huseyin Kocabas, containing artifacts from 6,000 years ago until the end of the 19th century. These collections are displayed in two sections: Antiquities, and Islamic and Ottoman.
| Grand Bazaar |
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The Grand Bazaar is the largest covered bazaar in the world, and is laid out in the traditional way so that shops selling the same type of goods are grouped together in one place. Rivalry between such close neighbors is controlled by strict laws laid down by trade guilds which state that each shop can support just one owner and his apprentice; in this way, small businesses are maintained and competition is reduced.
From the earliest Ottoman times, this bazaar was the commercial centre of Istanbul. The oldest part, the Ich Bedesten, dates from the time of the conquest, and the Sandal Bedesten was added later during the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent.
| Spice Bazaar |
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The Spice Bazaar, also known as the Egyptian Bazaar, was constructed in the 1660's as part of the New Mosque complex, and the rents from the traders went towards the upkeep of the mosque and its school, bath and public fountains. This bazaar gets its name from the fact that it sells spices, which were subject to customs duties from Cairo. Saffron and royal jelly as well as dried fruit and nuts are on sale, but you'll no longer be able to buy gunpowder to cure you hemorrhoids; this was banned after several careless shopkeepers accidentally destroyed their own premises!
| Maiden's Tower |
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Maiden's Tower is named after the young princess who was kept here by her over-protective father who believed a soothsayer's prophesy that she would die from a snake bite. He felt that both the water and the height of the tower would form an impenetrable barrier and protect his daughter. Unfortunately, a servant inadvertently transported a snake over to the island in a basket of fruit. It seems that fate was inescapable! More recently, the place has been used as a quarantine tower, a lighthouse, a customs point, and a toll centre. One of the scenes from the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies was shot here.
| Bosphorus Boat Trip |
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A trip up the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea, the stretch of water that links Europe to Asia, is a magical experience not to be missed. It is both relaxing and fascinating because of the way nature's beauty mixes with the attractive and sometimes curious buildings that its shores; you will see many old wooden houses and palaces standing alongside modern villas. The route follows that taken by Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece, and is the site where Zeus's lover Io (whom he had turned into a cow in his regret at deceiving his wife, Hera) was driven into the strait by a horsefly sent by the jealous spouse. Bosphorus means the place where the cow crossed.
| Princes Islands |
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After visiting the sights of Istanbul, if you still have time on your hands, you will love to escape to the Princes Islands, as the rich and famous have done throughout history (even Trotsky came here after escaping from a Russian jail). The islands are a little archipelago just off the Asian coast of the Sea of Marmara that are dotted with monasteries, churches and synagogues. Here, it seems that time has stopped because no cars are allowed! Don't worry, you don't have to go everywhere on foot; you will be shown the sights during a relaxing ride in a phaeton (horse-drawn carriage). Don't forget to look back at the stunning view of Istanbul in the distance.
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