Istanbul is a city built on two continents. The Asian and European sides are separated by the Bosphorus river which is part of the connection between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean . We cruised up the river on the public boat, passing by a Sultan's hunting lodge, some beautiful riverside mosques and many houses owned by the rich with lots of huge windows.
The Bosphorus Bridge is 169m high and 1073m long. It carries the major road across the river.
In order to go inside the Mosque we took our shoes off at the door. Women were encourage to cover up bare shoulders and their heads and men wearing shorts above the knee had to wear a sort of skirt to cover their knees.
Sultan Ahmet commissioned the building of the Blue Mosque between 1606-1617. He actually asked his architects to design and build him a gold mosque. There wasn't enough money in the treasury for this but instead of incurring the wrath of a cross sultan they decided to trick him. The words for six and gold in Turkish are very similar. So...they built him six mosques instead! These mosques are the basis for the world famous skyline of Istanbul.
Istanbul has been an important religious centre for many centuries. Emporer Constantine converted to Christianity during his reign, therefore changing the Roman Empire from paganism to Christiany. He was facing a large army with no resources but he had a dream one night. An angel told him if he painted a Christian cross on all the shields of his soldiers he would defeat the army. And he did! To repay the favour Constantine became a Christian. He built a huge cathedral between A.D. 532 and 537 in honour of his conversion, called Hagia Sophia. It was the largest cathedral ever built in the world for nearly a thousand years. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks and Sultan Mehmet 2 ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed, and many of the mosaics were eventually plastered over. The Islamic features - such as the four minarets outside - were added over the course of its history under the Ottomans. It remained as a mosque until 1935, when it was converted into a museum by the Republic of Turkey. 
Istanbul also holds many ancient artifacts. The tomb of Alexander the Great (the famous Roman Emporer) can be seen in the archeological museum and there are several extremely old obelisks in the area known as the Hippodrome, next to the Blue Mosque.
They say this obelisk was 2 times the size but when it was shipped from Egypt it broke or was broken in half! Just imagine the original size! Seeing objects and places several thousands of years old became the norm for our Turkish Odyssey.
We visited the Basilica Cistern, a spectacular sight hidden under the main road. Apparently it was discovered when two locals decided to question why they could fish under the Hagia Sofia!
It is the largest of several hundredd cisterns in Istanbul. Water was kept here for the city. When it was built the Christian builders used the remains of pagan temples as building blocks. At the very back corner of the cistern you can find 2 Medusa heads, one upside down, one on its side.
We left Istanbul on a Monday night, taking the overnight train to Ankara and from there we crossed the desert-like central part of Turkey to Cappadocia. On the way we passed one of the largest salt lakes in the world and had some fun with the camera.
Stay tuned for the next edition of The Altmann's Turkish Odyssey.
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