Istanbul

Ok, well, minus the whole getting a major stomach virus thing and not sleeping on Friday night, Istanbul was pretty amazing. Here's what i did.

We arrived on Thursday night. The ride to the hostel was not bad, nor were the accomidations. We were right next to all the major sites, which was pretty sweet, and it was inexpensive, making it a real bonus. We checked in and then walked up to see the Agia Sophia and Blue Mosque at night. They were gorgeous, and made me excited for seeing them in the light the next day.

Friday, we woke up early and did the Blue Mosque, the Cistern, and Agia Sophia before lunch. The Blue Mosque was my favorite. It it a really impressive building inside. The architectural style is nothing like the Roman or Greek stuff I've seen while i've been here, but i can see the influences. There were arches and columns, and instead of mosaics or paintings, it was all simply decorated with floral designs. But they were EVERYWHERE! The columns themselves were equally enormous, dwarfing anything i have yet seen. And to think this was a place of prayer blew my mind. The next stop was the Cistern. This was built by the Byzantines to supply Byzantium (as it was called then) with a water supply. i believe it was fed by an aqueduct nearby. In any case, it was an gigantic underground structure. I think there were something like 400 columns supporting the roof. There wasn't much light, but you got the impression of how big the place was immediately. There were even fish swimming around in the water. There also were some colums with interesting designs, one with circular spirals and another with 2 Medussa heads (why, i just don't know).

The final stop of the morning was the Agia Sophia. This building i found to be a bit disappointing. I've heard so much about it, how amazing and immense and grand, and maybe it was the fact that it was being restored, but i wasn't that impressed. I'm not saying that it wasn't worth the trip, but it was a let down given how built up it was. Parts of the paint were pealing and the dome was being repaired, (and there were pigeons flying around) which is not a good sign. Other than that, i enjoyed it. The architecture was superb, and seeing a Christian church/Islamic mosque rolled up into one was interesting. A lot of both survived.

After lunch/wandering around a bit, we went on the Palace of the Sultan. This was the highlight. We could have easily spent another full day in here without any problem. There were several small collections within the Palace structure itself. Each one was interesting in its own right, but the obvious highlights were the jewels and treaure. Holy cow was this stuff impressive!! Remember how i didn't like the Habsburg crown jewels? Well, the Sultan's put the Hapsburgs to shame. Ornate swords, immense diamonds/gems, and huge golden thrones, to name a few. There also was an interesting collection on the religious iconography of Islam, such as the footprint of i think John the Baptist and Moses' staff. I doubt the veracity of these items, but they were still interesting to look at.

The last place inside the palace we went was the Harem. Unfortunetly, you have to pay another 10 Turkish Lira (about $7) to enter, but it's totally worth it. The architectural detailing and simplicity of it all was unbelievable. The Sultan and his harem women sure lived well. It's good to be the Sultan :-).

This was when i got sick, unfortunetly. So Friday night and most of Saturday i spent recovering. I did manage to get up and do a cruise along the Bosphorus, which if i hadn't fallen asleep during i think would have been pretty cool. Oh well, what i did see was pretty awesome. Then on Sunday, we went to the nearby Aqueduct (which i've never seen one that i can remember, gasp) and then just wandered around the Sultanplatz for a little bit, through the Hippodrome and such. We did see the Tripod which the names of all the Greek city-states who opposed the Persians in the Persian Wars were inscribed, which was pretty awesome. Too bad the names have worn away. It was still cool.

We flew back into Athens on Sunday, and found out the number of people who had been sick. Then it was off to classes on Monday.

Next up, Olympia/Pylos/Delphi...yay!