Turkey

Istanbul

Istanbul Sunset
The sunset from our hotel room window on our first night.

Aya Sofya

An icon of the Byzantine empire, Aya Sofya was built in 537, and has been a church, mosque and museum. It sports a dome larger than that of The Blue Mosque even though it was built over 1,000 years earlier.

Aya Sofya

Inside Aya Sofya

Sultanahmet Camii

Inside Sultanahmet Camii

Sultanahmet Camii is one of the few mosques to be surrounded by six minarets, also called The Blue Mosque due to the prevailing colour of the Iznik tiles used on the inside.

Sultanahmet Camii - The Blue Mosque

Kapali Çarsi

The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest covered markets in the world, containing over 4,000 shops, restaurants, tea houses, banks, a police station and even a mosque.
	Tea Seller

Topkapi Palace


Topkapi Palace was home to the Ottoman government from 1659, it later became home to the Sultans and the famous Harem. The treasury is open as a museum, where you can view the emerald encrusted Topkapi Dagger and the fabulous 86 carat Spoonmaker's Diamond, fifth largest in the world.

Süleymaniye Camii

The mosque of Süleyman the Magnificent was built by Mimar Sinan in 1550.

In the cemetery can be found the the mausoleum of Süleyman, shown in the foreground of the photo on the left.

Inside Süleymaniye Camii

Yerebatan Saray

Well worth a visit is the Sunken Palace, an underground cistern built in Roman times to supply water to the palaces. The 336 recycled columns vary in style, two even have Medusa as their bases which would have been submerged.
	Medusa Head