Istanbul - 2002

With an around the world air ticket, we flew out of Melbourne on the 10th of May to Vancouver in Western Canada.
 Next flight was to Calgary then we flew over the North Pole to Frankfurt
 in Germany where we went on a Trafalgar Highlights of New Europe tour.
(Frankfurt to Berlin, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, The Czech Republic and Rothenburg before returning to Frankfurt.)
After this tour we flew to Istanbul in Turkey and went on a Trafalgar tour of Turkey.
Then to Singapore via Dubai and back to Melbourne after 54 days.

From Frankfurt in Germany we flew to Istanbul for our tour of Turkey. 

For many people it is their most favourite city in the world. We can see why. We loved it.
We had 3 days to explore Istanbul before ourTurkey tour began.

First known as Byzantium (after Byzis), Istanbul dates from at least 660BC.
Its name was changed to Constantinople after the Emperor in 330AD and became the capital of The Holy Roman Empire.

The Mosque of Sultan Ahmet 1 -  The Blue Mosque.
The mosque was built between 1609 & 1616.
It is beautiful inside - the blue luminous impression is created by the tiled walls and the lovely blue windows. Massive pillars support the dome.











Some of the beautiful windows which give The Blue Mosque its blue luminous impression.










A chain across one of the gates of the mosque. Its purpose was to cause horse riders to dismount before entering the precincts of the mosque.










Outside the Blue Mosque is The Hippodrome where chariot races & Bzyantine riots took place.
There are 2 obelisks here - one from Karnak and a rough one which once was covered in brozne that was stolen by the Crusaders

Hagia Sophia. The Cathedral of Holy Wisdom in Istanbul.
This 1500 year old church was built from 532 - 537. 
It was began under Emperor Justinian and was intended to be the grandest, finest church in the world.
For 1000 years it was the largest church in Christendom.

Inside Hagia Sophia.
The interior reveals the building's true magnificence, stunning even today, it must have been overwhelming centuries ago when it was covered with gilded mosaics.
After the Turkish conquest in 1453 and the subsequent conversion of Hagia Sophia to a mosque, the mosaics were covered over, as Islam prohibits images.
They were not revealed until the 1930's when Ataturk declared Hagia Sophia a museum. The minarets were added when Hagia Sophia was a mosque.













Hagia Sophia Cathedral remains an architectural wonder.
Its dome is supported by an extraordinary system of interlocking main piers, secondary piers, buttress piers and spanning arches. It fell in twice while being constructed.
While we were there, interior restoration was being undertaken using scaffolding as high as a 30 storey building.




Topkapi Palace
The palace of the Sultans from 1462. It was completed in 1478.
Part of the palace, The Treasury, houses the Turkish Crown Jewels. There was a large 86 carat diamond. 
But the highlight was the biggest ruby that we have ever seen.  It was in a Sultan's headdress.
We also saw a jewelled encrusted cradle, medals, "the skull and arm of John the Baptist" and daggers with emerald and quartz crystal handles.





There were beautifully tiled rooms and attractive coloured windows.
In another room we saw holy relics - "Mohammed's beard hairs and footprints".
There were portraits of Sultans from 1299 until 1922.







Intricate stonework in the pavement at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

The Sultans had an excellent view over The Bosphorus from the palace grounds.






Attached to the harem was a large outdoor swimming pool as well as a heated indoor pool.
There were fountains outside the Sultan's meeting room. They prevented outsiders from hearing the private discussions.



The Sultan used to sit under this Golden Canopy in the grounds of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul and view the ships and boats sailing on The Bosphorus.












Inside The Harem at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
These were the rooms of the Sultan's family. The Sultan's mother had a powerful control over the harem.
The eunuchs were black. They guarded the women of the harem.
Some of the women never ever saw the Sultan.




 

Suleyman Mosque.
It is Istanbul's grandest and largest mosque. Construction was completed in 1557 on the orders of Suleyman the Magnificent. He is buried in a nearby mausoleum.
The buildings surrounding the mosque were originally a hospital, seminaries, soup kitchen, baths and hospice.















Beautiful, new Turkish carpet at Suleyman Mosque.


The Entrance Gate to the mosque grounds.



The Archaeological Museum was adjacent to Hagia Sophia..










Breakfast on the terrace at our hotel, The Apricot Hotel.


The Golden Horn, an inlet off The Bosphorus.
The Galata bridge crosses over it.

The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
There are over 4400 shops and 65 covered walkways.

 

 

Yerebatan Saray, the underground sunken palace cistern in Istanbul.

Built by Constantine, this massive, columned cistern held water not only for regular summer use but also for times of siege.

       

In 1453 the Turks took over Istanbul. Istanbul comes from the Greek word, Istanpol, which means from the city.
Turks originated in Central Asia in the Eleventh Century. There are 47 different ethnic groups in Turkey; they are very tolerant of different cultures.
Over 10 million people live in Istanbul, over one sixth of Turkey's population. 40% of Turkey's industry and commerce is located here. 

The Sea of  Marmara


Whirling Dervishes




Istanbul University Gateway


Ankara, not Istanbul, is the capital of Turkey.



Part of the old wall which once enclosed the city (apart from the water frontages).
Once there were three layers of walls with a moat between the outer two walls. The moat has now been filled in and is used as a market garden.
 









The Bosphorus

The Bosphorus, the waterway separating Europe from Asia links The Sea of Marmara and The Black Sea.
On our cruise we crossed from side to side to see the best parts close up.
There are two long suspension bridges which cross over it.





















Lining the shore is a delightful mixture of the past and present as well as the grand splendor and quaint beauty of modern hotels,
 ancient wooden villas, palaces of marble, fortresses and small fishing villages.




























Part of the fortress, Rumeli Hisar, built by the Turk, Mehmed II, to give him a stronghold on The Bosphorus in 1452.
It was built just prior to his attack on Constantinople.
His labourers dismantled monasteries and churches in the area and carted off their stones to the construction site.





















The entrance to The Black Sea from The Bosphorus. Strong currents prevented our cruise boat from going any closer to The Black Sea.



At the start of our Trafalgar tour of Turkey we stayed at the Hilton Hotel.
Views of The Bosphorus from our hotel room.




Night views of Istanbul from our hotel.


From Istanbul we travelled to Gallipoli.