Istanbul – Historical Sights

If you want to get a little taste of history, there are few places that rival Istanbul. Fantastic museums, mosques, churches, buildings, palaces – Istanbul has it all. Unfortunately, it is not cheap. For the Turks, you can buy a Muze Kart for only 20 TL and it permits you entrance to almost every museum in the city. It is not available for foreigners, and there are no student discounts offered. Aya Sofya and the Topkapi Palace now cost 20 TL each (15 more at the Palace if you want to go inside the Harem). Others are cheaper, but how nice it would be to be a Turkish student.

I picked the biggest attractions to see, since my time in Istanbul was quite limited. The first day I went to the Blue Mosque, which was very beautiful. The line for foreign visitors was incredibly long. Again, the Turks have it best and are able to go through a very short line to enter the mosque. After being denied once, my Turkish host and I finally convinced the security guard to let us in the Turkish line, after being told I needed to cover up a bit more.  Luckily I had my sweater. The mosque is beautifully decorated with mosaic tiles inside, but seems very small compared to the enormous structure that you see from the outside. I’m sure that most of the mosque is just off limits to tourists, but it would be interesting to see. Although the Blue Mosque is very nice, (and I hate to sound irreverent or disrespectful here, but I’m saying it anyway) it smells terrible. So many people coming through without shoes on, it is almost unbearable. Consider yourself warned.

Blue Mosque from the outside

Inside the Blue Mosque

Next stop was Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia), a church constructed in 532 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian. It was the largest church in the world for about 1000 years. In 1453, Constantinople (sorry, Istanbul – not Constantinople) was conquered by the Ottoman Turks who converted it into a mosque. Almost all the semblances of Christianity were removed or covered over.  In 1935, Ataturk declared that it be turned into a museum, and many of the original mosaics were discovered. It’s an incredible building, huge and beautiful, despite the constant construction going on. It’s a pricey one, but if you go to Istanbul, you must go see Ayasofya.

Ayasofya - it's really big. Trust me

Topkapi Palace is really big. I’m not going to say much about it, other than 1. You can see the arm of John the Baptist and part of his skull in the room of Holy Relics (how do they know that is his arm? It seems so weird to me, but it was still grotesquely awesome) 2. There is an 86 carat diamond on display – it is huge and 3. Be careful of creepy Turkish men that might decide they want to accompany you around the palace (all ladies should be escorted by a man, after all).

Oh, and don’t drop your sweater when trying to escape the creepy men. It will only invite more creepy men to help you look for it then try to convince you to have tea (cay, with a little squiggle under the c).

One of the rooms in the Harem

The last thing I will mention is the Basilica Cistern. This one is only 15 TL! But it also has the least to see. That being said, I think it is one of the more interesting things in Istanbul. The cistern was also built in the 6th century by Emperor Justinian. It was used to supply water to the palace up until the 15th century. It’s a dark, damp place illuminated by orange light. You can barely  see the large, ghostly fish floating in the shallow water. There are 336 marble columns of different styles that fill the underground space. You walk along an illuminated path to the back of the cistern, where there are two heads of Medusa used as bases for columns. One is upside down, the other on her side. It is unknown where these heads came from, but they are an odd addition to the cistern. It’s a short visit, but well worth it.

Basilica Cistern - hard to capture in good light since it is, of course, dark. I'll do some photoshop work later, but for now - look close! I'll make it bigger than the rest.

And there you have it. The four best (or best known) historical sights in Istanbul. You could accomplish all this easily in 2 days, and spend the rest of your time shopping. That is what I did, and now my wallet is much lighter. There is still more to come on Istanbul including my day at the Grand Bazaar and some interesting cultural notes.