All-day walking tour of old Byzantium
On Wednesday I took an all-day tour of the old part of Istanbul with Istanbul Walks . I recommend this company. They have lots of options for walking in various parts of Istanbul. My guide was very well-informed and gave me more historical background than I could absorb. I met him outside the entrance to the Hagia Sophia museum. We were joined by a guide in training. I was the only customer that day. It was cold and rainy, which you will see in the photos. We first visited the Blue mosque, but I had visited it on Monday, so the pictures of that mosque are on that post . From the Blue mosque we went back to Hagia Sophia . The Blue Mosque closes at noon and my guide told me that because he talks so long, he sometimes doesn't finish with both before noon, so he liked to start with the Blue Mosque. Here is the outside of Hagia Sophia or the church of Divine Wisdom. The current building was built in 532 by emperor Justinian on the site of an earlier Christian church, built ...