2011 SYRIA - JORDAN TOUR
 April 11, 2011 Monday Istanbul
The pictures are submitted by Micky Ryan

 Click here for Istanbul on 12 April                                       
Table of Content    Syria tour Itinerary     Home page    Syria 2011 group journal       

     
Breakfast facing the Blue Mosque.  On our way to the ferry dock for our trip to the Black Sea

   
Jim can not decide weather the view of Istanbul or the sweet shop is more memorable

    
In a public boat we started our little cruise to the far end of the Bosphorus. Anadolu Kavagi.

   
In Istanbul if we were not eating we were either walking or shopping.

Aya Sophia is a 1500-year old building, which stands as a witness to the history of Constantinople and Christianity. The size of its dome remained to be the highest for one thousand years until the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral was built in the 16th Century.

The synthesis of cultures can be traced in the building with the pillars from a Temple of a Mother Goddess, Hellenistic urns, Islamic-Ottoman calligraphy and Christian symbols all intermingle to create the grandeur that time could not defeat. Aya Sophia was dedicated in the name of Sacred Wisdom of Jesus. Known as St. Sophia, the Church was used as a church for 1000 years and as a Mosque for close to 500 years. Now it is a museum and a living record of the history of Christianity.

The tiles and the  flowers in Istanbul
 

                                                    

 


 

 Click here for Istanbul on 12 April                          
Table of Content    Syria tour Itinerary     Home page    Syria 2011 group journal