Istanbul Day 3, May 5, 2024.
Another busy day, starting with exploring a different corridor of the Spice Bazaar, then a tour of Hagia Sophia, the Hippodrome of Constantinople, the Blue Mosque and the Aqueduct of Valens. The Istanbul police confiscate the cars and turn them into police cars.
The ceiling in the Spice bazaar is very decorative ceiling. Turkey is a big tea drinking country and there were amazing loose teas for sale. There are bulk spices in the Spice Bazaar. One can also buy dried and smoked meats, and cheeses in the Spice Bazaar.
The Nazar Boncugu (blue bead) is a round bead in the shape of an eye made from blue glass with a hole in the middle. Nazar means “evil eye” in Turkish, and the blue bead is believed to be protection. These beads were for sale in the Spice Bazaar.
The Hagia Sophia is a former Greek Orthodox basilica, later an imperial mosque. It was completed in 536 AD and was a church for over 900 years. It is now an active mosque. However, the Religious mosaics are still in place in Hagia Sophia.
We ran across a young boy. Look on this boy’s face sort of pretty much says it all. He is scheduled for a circumcision tomorrow. They usually dress up like this the day before. It is a family/religious celebration.
The Serpent Column is part of an ancient Greek sacrificial tripod, originally in Delphi and relocated to Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 324. It is now located in the Hippodrome of Constantinople.
The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, also known by its official name, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii), is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today. It has a huge dome inside.
The Blue Mosque is named after the blue Iznik tiles that decorate its interior. The tiles are made in the town of Iznik, also known as Bursa, and are some of the world’s oldest hand-decorated tiles. The tiles were first produced by the Byzantines and were sometimes used in churches and palaces.
There is a Roman aqueduct system built in the late 4th century AD, to supply Constantinople with water. Construction began in the mid 350s and was completed in 373 by Emperor Valens. It remained