We also visited Hagia Sophia on our second day. It is a church converted into a mosque. It has been added onto over the years...since it was first built in 60 A.D.
The place has both Christian and Muslim aspects.
There is ongoing restoration work and the interior is partially filled with scaffolding. It was extremely high scaffolding and you could see tiny people moving above working on the ceiling.
The place was massive.
There was a second floor that was also impressive. To get to the second floor, the pathway was a stone lined ramp. This picture is the start of it, but it kept winding up and up and it was weird to not be climbing stairs to a second floor.
Another shot from inside.
One thing that was particularly interesting about Istanbul, was all the cats. Yes, I said cats. Unlike South America where you see dogs everywhere, it is cats in Istanbul. These cats were also considerably friendly. Here is one of my friends.
As if we could not do another thing on day 2, we did. We visited the underground Cistern, which was built in 532 to supply water to the city. Today, it is mainly a tourist attraction where you walk around on raised wood platforms over 2 feet of water.
There are 336 columns supporting the place.
It was an exhausting day, but we were able to see a ton of sites.
The place has both Christian and Muslim aspects.
There is ongoing restoration work and the interior is partially filled with scaffolding. It was extremely high scaffolding and you could see tiny people moving above working on the ceiling.
The place was massive.
There was a second floor that was also impressive. To get to the second floor, the pathway was a stone lined ramp. This picture is the start of it, but it kept winding up and up and it was weird to not be climbing stairs to a second floor.
Another shot from inside.
One thing that was particularly interesting about Istanbul, was all the cats. Yes, I said cats. Unlike South America where you see dogs everywhere, it is cats in Istanbul. These cats were also considerably friendly. Here is one of my friends.
As if we could not do another thing on day 2, we did. We visited the underground Cistern, which was built in 532 to supply water to the city. Today, it is mainly a tourist attraction where you walk around on raised wood platforms over 2 feet of water.
There are 336 columns supporting the place.
It was an exhausting day, but we were able to see a ton of sites.
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