Historic Old City

 Day 1: Welcome to Turkey Sat, Apr 25, 2026

In the morning, I set out on my own to go to the Cisterna Basilica. It is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul.  This one was built in the 6th century during the reign of Emperor Justinian I to provide water to the Great Palace of Constantinople.

We meet our group at 1 p.m. at our hotel in Istanbul's historic center.

Shortly after, we'll take an orientation walk and visit the exquisite 400-year old Blue Mosque, named for its brightly colored tiles. Then we'll tour one of the world's great treasures: Hagia Sophia, for 1,000 years the grandest domed structure on Earth.  Then we walk to the Grand Bazaar for some orientation a free time in a crazy busy maze like shopping area that use to be part of the sil road.  I found a quiet coffee house and rested.  We'll end our day getting acquainted with one another over dinner at a local restaurant Nergis Galata, which is one of several restaurants on the Galata bridge.  

The cistern is supported by 336 marble columns, each about 30 feet high, arranged in 12 rows. Many of these columns were recycled from older ruins, leading to a mix of architectural styles.

I put this one in the blog specifically for Christine since she likes the faces in stone from all over the world.  And the one below reminds me of the “evil eye”, which you also see a lot of places that rather than being evil, is for good luck 

The Medusa Heads: Two of the most famous features are the column bases carved with the face of Medusa. One is placed sideways and the other upside down, likely to neutralize the mythological gaze or simply to fit the height of the columns.

After meeting the Rick Steves group, here are pics from the rest of the day. 

The Blue Mosque.  I tried looking around by myself, but you had to dodge carpet salesmen everywhere.  They pretended that they knew you or your state, so I just pretended that I didn’t speak English. 

More Blue Mosque pictures.  

We then walked over to Hagia Sophia, but on the way we walked thru the old Roman hippodrome (think Ben Hur).  

This obelisk was 3500 years old, brought over from Egypt.  It is the oldest thing in Istanbul. 

……and on to…….

Hagia Sophia - it was built as a church in 500AD, became a mosque in 1453, a museum in 1935 and again a mosque in 2020- was mostly under extensive restoration so this is the best outside picture I could get.  The inside was also under renovations, but you could tell it was a beautiful structure. 

Next, the Grand Bazaar, one of the world’s oldest and largest covered markets, a historic labyrinth of over 4000 shops.  I didn’t buy anything, it was too overwhelming. 

On to our first dinner together: 

Flaming our sea bass, it was great……….then a beautiful walk back to our hotel.   1st tour day…. In the books.