Oct 7th Istanbul Sights

We took a guided tour to see the sights around Istanbul. This is a city of 14 million people, it is the only city in the world that is spread over two continents, Europe & Asia. The Bhosphorus is the stretch of water that divides the city and the continents.

Turkeys population is 99% Muslim and 1% Christian & Jews. It has 2900 Mosques & 100 churches. It has swung between, paganism, Christianity & Islam for thousands of years depending on who was in power. It was during the reign of Constantine that it became Christian and is where the book of Concord was put together which is where the creed of mainline Christian churches comes from. The Ottermans came to power in the 15^th Centaury and from then Islam has been the dominant religion.

The Blue Mosque, not blue because of the outside but because of the thousands of blue tiles used to adorn the interior

Inside the Blue Mosque & then the mosque by night

An Obelisc, made by the Egyptians in about 1490 BC & brought to Istanbul (Then Constantanople) by Constantine in 357AD to celebrate his 20th year of rule. It was errected as a monument in the hippodrome, at 100,000 seat capacity chariot racing stadium

The Hagia Sophia was completed in 475AD it was the largest christian church building of its time, it had a seating capacity of 2000 people. On its opening it is said when Justinian the great, who comissioned its building walked into it, he was awestruck, and said, look I have even surpassed Solomon with the beauty we have buit here.

Yes fish signs, the signs of the early church

When it was taken over by the Muslims all of the amazing art that adorned the walls was covered over with a white wash and painted, as muslim culture does not allow pictures of people in their temples, (only flowers & scripture).

We also visited the Basilica Cisterns. These were basically water wells created by the Romans in 532AD to service the city of Istanbul  When the Ottermans took over they were lost and it was only in 1550 that they were rediscovered by chance. If ever you are in Istanbul I recommend a visit here it is truly amazing. Built from recycled materials after the Romans conquered the city this amazing work was never meant to be seen by people.