Istanbul Classics

Half Day Morning Tour

St.Sophia * Blue Mosque of Sultan Ahmet * Hippodrome * Serpentine Column * Obelisk of Theodosius * German Fountain * Grand Covered Bazaar

St. Sophia (Haghia Sophia): One of the greatest marvels of architecture constructed as a Basilica in 532 on the orders Emperor Justinian and considered as the 8th wonder of the world by most art historians. The Basilica, later converted to a mosque by the Ottomans is now a Museum. It is the third largest basilica in the world and its mosaics celebrate the glory of Byzantium as well as of the Emperors and Empresses.

Blue Mosque: The mosque’s location is just opposite of Hagia Sophia, according to the historical resources, architect Mehmet Aga tried  to construct a bigger dome then Hagia Sophia’s but he could not succeed to do it. There is also another interesting story of the mosque; Sultan Ahmet I wanted to have a minaret made of gold which is called “Altın” in Turkish, somehow the architect Mehmet Aga misunderstood what Sultan said as “Altı” which means “six” in English. So he added six minarets to the mosque. When the architect was waiting to be beheaded because of his mistake, Sultan liked the minarets so much and this saved his life. Prior to that time, none of the sultans had a mosque with 6 minarets.

Hippodrome, Serperntine Column, Obelisk of Theodosius, German Fountain: With a capacity for 100,000 spectators, the Hippodrome was a scene for the political struggles and uprisings in the capital city of the Empire.  The construction of the race tracks and the cavea started in the reign of Emperor Septimus Severus and were completed a hundred years later under Constantine the Great.  The stones from the structure was used in the construction of the Blue Mosque.  Today the only remains of the Hippodrome are the three monumental columns and a fountain.The granite obelisk was brought from the temple of Karnak on the River Nile, by the Roman emperor Theodosius.  The second is the “Column of the Serpent”, brought from the Temple of Apollo in Delphi and the third is a present from German Kaiser Wilhelm II to the Ottoman dynasty (German Fountain).

Grand Covered Bazaar: It is almost a city: founded on 50 streets in an area of 1336m2, with 4,400 shops, 40 inns, mosques, mescits (small mosques), Turkish Baths and fountains, coffee houses and pudding shops.  There are four gates to the market built in Ottoman architectural style.