Day Sixty: A taste of Ancient Constantinople

Welcome to day sixty of my blog! That means that we’ve been out of Canada for two months… it feels like it’s been so much longer than that because we’ve seen and done so much in that amount of time. I hope everyone is enjoying reading the blog as much as I’ve been enjoying writing it.

Well, today was an ambitious day. We got up at a decent time and headed down towards the bridge to take us across the Bosphorus over to Sultanahmet District, home to some of the most splendid mosques/cathedrals in Turkey. We had intended to walk there (it would have taken only ½ an hour or so), and we walked down the main hill toward the river (stopping to admire the view). Once we arrived at the bottom of the street, we happened upon the streetcar line and a conveniently located stop awaited us. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity and ventured onto the streetcar (after a momentary fumble with trying to figure out the token system).

The streetcar delivered us with no difficulty to Sultanahmet, and as we walked into the street two things struck me at once. 1) the extreme number of tourists crowding the street and 2) the magnificent, looming spires of two fantastically beautiful buildings: the Blue Mosque, and the Aya Sofya. The exotic appeal of the buildings matched with the tourists immediately impressed on me the notion of what Disneyland must feel like, if you were to walk into the Aladdin zone, into the streets of Agrabah. It seemed a little surreal at first and I was excited to see everything.




We stumbled on this wonderful fountain covered in pigeons. I’ve never seen a fountain quite like this, but after spending a few days in Turkey I’ve noticed that there are a lot of water fountains with spigots for water placed all around the city. I assume that they provide water for people, especially on the days in the summer months when air temperature can go up to 30 degrees Celsius. This particular fountain, however, was a gift from the German Emperor Wilhelm II to the Sultan Abdülhamid II in 1901. Pretty cool. There are eight monograms in the stonework on the underside of the dome, and they represent the political union of Abdülhamid II and Wilhelm. It was constructed to commemorate the second anniversary of Wilhelm’s visit to Istanbul in 1898. It was built in Germany, then transported piece by piece and assembled in its current site in 1900.

Across from the German Fountain was the Mausoleum of Sultan Ahmed I. We hadn’t read about this site in our research, but there was a big sign out front that said “free admission”. Of course, it would be a waste to pass up something that was free, so we took a look. We were required to take our shoes off outside before entering the Mausoleum, and oddly we were allowed to take pictures inside (as long as you didn’t use a flash…). Sultan Ahmed I, known best for having built the Blue Mosque (we’ll get to that shortly) was buried here in 1617, and the Mausoleum also houses members of his family as well. There was kind of a weird vibe here; the building itself was quite beautiful, covered in Turkish Ceramic tiles, but the casks themselves sort of seemed odd to me. There was also a viewing window for various religious artifacts, including a vile with” a hair from the beard of the prophet”. I guess Medieval Christians weren’t the only one’s into body parts of saints and martyrs…


Once we got back outside and into our shoes, we headed over to the Blue Mosque. We had visited it’s creator and visionary, and now we would see it for ourselves… or not. When we got there, afternoon prayers were in session and tourists were not allowed inside. The Blue Mosque is still a working religious building and Muslims still congregate here five times a day for prayers. Rob and I took a tour around the courtyard, which was quite interesting in itself. Prayers would be over shortly, so we decided to take a quick look around the streets.

We took a look at these really interesting obelisks in the street, which we later found out wasn’t always a street, but was actually the ancient Hippodrome, the place where they used to have chariot races… exciting! There are three monuments in the Hippodrome (also now know as Sultanahmet Square)

The first is the Obelisk of Thutmose III. It was erected by Theodosius the Great, who, in 390, brought the obelisk from Egypt and erected it in the spina, the center of the racing track (which is now, of course, just a sidewalk promenade). Carved from pink granite, it was originally erected at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor during the reign of Tuthmosis III in about 1490 BC. Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. Only the top section survives, and it stands today where Theodosius placed it, on a marble pedestal. The obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition. Let me say, on close inspection, you would never believe that this obelisk was really that old!


The second is the Serpent Column, which is now only a part of what it used to be – a Tripod of serpents holding up a golden bowl. The bowl was destroyed or stolen during the Fourth Crusade. The serpent heads were destroyed as late as the end of the 17th Century, so now all that remains is this spiraling column.

The last is the Walled Obelisk. In the 10th century Constantine built another obelisk at the other end of the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but they were sacked by Latin troops in the Fourth Crusade. The stone core of this monument is all that survived, and it looks a little worse for wear.

On our exploratory walk, we also noticed the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art, which runs beside the Hippodrome. According to signs outside, it’s the 1400th anniversary of the Koran, and the museum had a special exhibition honouring the book. We decided to check it out and although it wasn’t worth the 20 Lira it cost for both of us to get in, it would have probably been worth it to someone who knew more about Islam or was Muslim. The Museum had a lot of very old and beautiful pieces of pottery, carved doors and incense holders, plates, tapestries and rugs, but the main event was book after book of perfectly and gorgeously illuminated Korans filling many viewing cases. They were wonderful pieces of work, to be sure, but after the third room full, Rob and I had had our fill.

We headed back outside to the Hippodrome, and by the sounds of things, prayers were over (prayers are broadcast over loud speakers from every mosque in the city. We can hear them at 5:30 in the morning at our apartment, because there’s less traffic noise in the streets). We headed back to the Blue Mosque and worked our way through the line of tourists removing their shoes and putting them in plastic bags provided by people outside the doors of the Mosque. I tell you, it was pretty funny seeing all these tourists walking around with their shoes in flimsy, clear plastic bags, craning their necks, looking around each other at the beautiful building inside. I had read about the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya. I read that one should see the Blue Mosque first because, although beautiful on the outside (and it is incredibly stunning), the inside is a bit of a let down, especially compared to the inside of the Aya Sofya. Therefore, it was recommended that you see the Blue Mosque first so as not to be let down after viewing the Aya Sofya.


I have to honestly say that I agree. It was very beautiful inside, don’t get me wrong. It is the largest Mosque in Turkey and was built between 1609 and 1616 by Ahmed I (as previously mentioned). It was built to rival Aya Sofya, to be bigger and have more minarets (the spires that tower over the dome) and therefore be better than the ancient, domed splendor of Aya Sofya. On the outside, I think t succeeded, but on the inside, the wonder stops. It’s been fitted inside with a lot of lighting and wiring and I think it distracts from the interior. Also, rather than the huge, open space achievable in dome architecture, the large scale had to be supported by four huge columns inside the Mosque, which I think detracts from the grand size of it. However, it was still very interesting to see, and also to observe the Muslim culture and religion in practice (I’ve never been in a mosque before).

We got back outside and decided to ‘cross the street’ to the Aya Sofya. When we arrived, we saw that there was an admission cost and that we didn’t have enough cash on us for both, so we had to go find a bank machine. On the way, we stumbled upon the Basilica Cistern, or, at least, a sign announcing the Basilica Cistern. It was nothing but an unassuming door in a small building. I, however, having done my research before hand, knew exactly what this was and insisted that we go inside…

However, I think that’s enough excitement for one day, and I’ll post the rest tomorrow. Make sure to keep on reading!