ISTANBUL
Day 02 Monday,October 4, 2004 
Submitted by Pamela Richardson prchrdsn@msn.com

    Our first stop was to the Sunken Cistern, which was built by Justinian in 532, and provided a water source for Istanbul. The entire cistern had been decorated by an artist, and different sized white balls were hanging from the top of the cistern’s ceiling, creating a magical effect. 

            Our second stop was going to the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent, or as Meli taught us, Suleyman the Legislator, built by Sinan in 1550. Here, we received a history lesson on Istanbul.  Meli explained that we could think of the city’s history as a mountain range.  The mountain peaks stood for empires, and mountain valleys stood for individual state power.  We learned that Istanbul had been part of 3 empires, (1) Byzantine, (2) Roman, and (3) Ottoman.

            Next we went to a courtyard restaurant were we observed a woman making flat bread in front of us, that we got to taste, and then onto the Kariye Cami’i or Church of St. Savior-in Chora which was built between 1077-1081. We saw beautiful mosaics and frescoes, including the detailed and symbolic Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.

            Then onto Topkapi Palace where half of us toured the Harem, and the other half toured the royal treasury.  The jewels and the size of the emeralds were magnificent.

            This was a great first day for what would turn out to be a wonderful vacation!