Day 15 - Istanbul

Day 15 Sunday August 28

Istanbul local sightseeing means no driving today. We went with the local guide, Ms. Niloufer to explore the city on foot. We saw the Hippodrome, the Blue mosque, Hagia Sofia mosque and the Basilica Cistern.

It's hard to imagine the Hippodrome, also called Sultanahmet Square, as it stands today as a place where chariot racing took place. It was said to be filled with statues of Gods, Emperors, animals etc. The oval race track had stands for about 3000 spectators. 2 Obelisks and a Serpent column are the only relics that you can see here today.

Unfortunately the Blue mosque is under renovation and there are a lot of scaffoldings inside that did not allow us to admire the grandeur and beauty of this beautiful place.

Next was the amazing Hagia Sofia mosque, it was built as a church, then changed to a mosque, then to a museum and now back to a mosque. Inside are beautiful frescoes, ornamental chandeliers and rich Persian and Turkish carpets.

We went to have a look at the Basilica Cistern. Constructed for Justinianus I, the Byzantium Emperor (527-565), this big underground water reservoir is called as “Yerebatan Cistern” among the public because of the underground marble columns. As there used to be a basilica in the place of the cistern, it is also called Basilica Cistern.

In the evening at around 7 pm we did a boat cruise on the Bosphorus. There were drinks, dinner, music and dance and all of us had a ball. Walking back from the pier to the hotel, we had baklava at the iconic Gulluoglu. This place started in 1843 and till today serves only tea and various types of baklava.