June 3, 2025: Istanbul (not Constantinople)

(Written June 4 by Devri)

We were able to sleep in slightly, due to our later arrival in Istanbul. We were supposed to be docked and ready for going ashore at 9 a.m., but at 9 am, we were still moving. We all made it to our excursion meeting point with plenty of time to spare, due to our late arrival. We finally got called up to leave the ship a little after 9:30, and then we had quite the trek getting from the boat to our bus as we walked through the fairly new Istanbul cruise port in a tunnel system. Our buses were waiting for us underground, and our enthusiastic tour guide, Ozzie (his nickname, not his actual name), was there to greet us and welcome us to the tour. 

We started with a short drive through traffic, over a bridge or two, passing so many mosques, and stopping on a busy street to get off the bus. 

Ozzie led us down several streets and to the Hippodrome, the ancient chariot racing spot of old that is now a large plaza. He pointed out the Egyptian obelisk in the center, as well as another obelisk type monument erected to Constantine, and what remained of a snake statue. He showed us a video of what the ancient chariot races most likely looked like, and then we headed into a gate to get in line for the Blue Mosque. 

He held our place in line while those who needed to use the restroom went to the restroom, and Brian and I took advantage of the line waiting to get a better look at the hippodrome.

We got back in line,and finished winding around the building, passing the clothing check. Michael and Rachel had a lot of fun in line playing with my scarf that I let Rachel use to go into the mosque. Michael tried different ways of tying it on her head, and even tied it on his own head. We eventually got the scarves on all the ladies, took off our shoes, and walked inside the Mosque.

It was stunning! The ceilings were decorated with blue flower tiles and blue stained glass windows. My mouth just dropped open. I wish we could have gotten to go up on the balconies to better inspect the gorgeous blue and white tiles up there, painted with tulips. It was just stunning! 

We didn’t have much time as a prayer was due to begin any minute, so we got some pictures and headed out. When we were near the door, we realized that our three kids hadn’t followed us, which was the first time that had happened. I went back to find them, and I found all three of the facing each other in a circle, playing some kind of game or sharing some kind of conversation with just the three of them, which was a little unusual. I wished that I could have left them bonding together, but we needed to go, so I had to break it up. 

From the Blue Mosque, we walked over to the Hagia Sophia. We actually had a chance to take pictures in front of both mosques in the same spot. I hadn’t realized that they were so close to each other. 

Ottoman Empire fountain

After pictures, we headed into the Hagia Sophia, once again donning our scarves to cover our hair. Our group got cut off by another tour group as we entering the queue, which also cut our smaller group of 10 not quite in half. Lara, mom, Rachel, and i were separated from Brian, Gabe, Michael, Greg, Kirt, and Julie, and despite our protests, the workers just let it happen. We took advantage of a higher dividing ribbon to cut the line and reunite with our family before entering the mosque. 

I learned about the Hagia Sophia back at BYU in my humanities, art history, and interior design courses, and again in my architecture classes at UVU. It is a great example of Byzantine architecture, and became the precedent for countless domed buildings that followed. It’s a very important building! It was commissioned by the Byzantium emperor Justinian I as the Christian cathedral in (then) Constantinole from 532-537 AD, and was the largest cathedral in the world until 1520. After the fall of Constantinople int 1453 to the Ottoman Empire, the Hagia Sophia was converted to a mosque, and was the principle mosque in Istanbul until 1616. It remained a mosque until 1931 when it closed to the public for a remodel. It reopened as a museum in 1935, but in 2020, a council reclassified the Hagia Sophia as a Mosque. This decision was highly controversial, and in 2024, they opened the upper floor to the public as a museum and made the lower level a mosque. 

A view of the lower level, which is the functioning part of the Mosque

Byzantine Frescos

Viking grafitti--"Halvdan"

We learned that in mosques, they don’t use faces or people in their art, and so all the Christian art that had been used to decorate the Hagia Sophia was covered up, except for a few places. They also added large circles with symbols and scriptures from the Quran. There are four angels in the corners under the dome that have paintings of angels on them, and one angel doesn’t have its face covered. I’m not sure it that was always the case since the Islamic takeover of the church or if they decided to uncover one of the faces during the renovation and museum conversion. 

The only angel who still has its face

One of three now faceless angels

Byzantine Christian mosaics

Is this column bothering you? Because it looks like its leaning

On the upper floor, we were able to see some of the incredible Byzantine mosaics of Jesus with Emperor Justinian, as well as the Virgin Mary. The mosaics are stunning, and I’m so glad they’ve been preserved over the years, despite the change in religious hosts. It was really cool being inside such an important building, to stand in a building filled with so much history. 

More Byzantine Christian Mosaics

On the right, Emperor Constantinople holding a model of the city. On the left, Emperor Justinian, who constructed Hagia Sophia, holding its model. Both are presenting them to the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus.  

As we were leaving, we heard a man singing the call to prayer, and it was beautiful. 

From the Hagia Sophia, we walked over to the Great Cistern, the underground ancient water supply. Apparently when the Ottoman Empire took over the city, they thought standing water was unclean, so they established fountains all over the city, but when I say fountain, don’t think water feature type fountain, think more like the faucet that comes from the side of your house type fountain. 

When the Cistern was built, they used pilfered columns from Rome and Greece to hold up the ceiling/ground level, so each column was different. Some pieces that were originally capitols were installed as bases, or were even installed sideways or upside down. We even saw one that seemed to come from the architrave instead of the column, and it was placed sideways so the words were sideways. it was fascinating and nice and cool down there. We kept getting drips on us as we went along. 

A Medusa statue pilfered from somewhere

They used what they could find for columns, even other decorative features and lintels turned on their sides 

After the cistern, our guide walked us over to the Grand Bizaare, stopping at a point a little before the Grand Bazaar. He wanted to take us to a leather shop, but our group was starving, so we opted to get food instead of sitting through another sales pitch. We found a restaurant right by our meeting place, and told the workers we had to be all finished within a half an hour, and they made it happen! With our bellies full, we met up with the rest of our group right on time and walked the rest of the way to the famous old indoor market. 

We first went into a store called Turkish Delights and sampled some Turkish Delight and learned there are all kinds of flavors of the stuff. I picked out a couple of silk scarves, though I wished they had smaller ones. 

Gabe taking advantage of A.C. and a soft chair to rest and read while I looked at scarves

Brian explored the Grand Bizarre solo while I looked at scarves and my mom picked out Turkish Delight to take home to her kids and grandkids

Then, Brian led us to the actual Grand Bizarre. It. Was. insanely Huge! Over 4000 shops! We walked for 15 minutes and never saw the end. They had shop workers haggling us and calling out to us the entire time, and after a bit, the cigarette smoke inside made me sick. I’m glad we got to see it, and I wished there was a way to buy one of the beautiful vases and ship it home. 

We headed back to our rendezvous point, and then walked back tot he bus. It was a long walk, and we got mixed in with several other tour groups, nearly lost our group at an intersection, and miraculously made it to our bus without losing anyone! By the end, we were seeing Ozzie as a kind of father or Moses figure! What a busy city!

On a street corner in Istanbul, after a particularly sketchy crossing

with Ozzy, our awesome Turkish guide

We made it back to our rooms and collapsed, all except Rachel, Gabe, and Greg, who somehow let our kids talk him into playing games with them. We all met up again at dinner.

Gabe was trying to lay down on Brian’s lap, so i took him to bed before our dessert was served. I read him a chapter Percy Jackson, and for the first time since Brussels, he didn’t fight going to sleep. 

None of the rest of us did either.