SULTANAHMET UNPLUGGED

Perfect introduction tour in the footsteps of Byzantine and Roman Emperors and Ottoman Sultans. The tour begins with a guided walking tour of Mehmet Akif Ersoy Park. A great Turkish poet, he has also written the lyrics of Turkish national anthem. Excavations carried out intermittenly between 1642 and 1964, led to the discovery of two impressive palace complexes situated next to each other; Lausos and Antiochos Palace. Lausos is a spectacular palace that was large enough to house a famous collection of antique sculpture. Aphrodite of Knidos, Athena of Lindos, Eros of Myndos, Hera of Samos and numerous sculpted beasts. Enjoy one of most well-known and popular attractions, Hippodrome of Constantinople, sporting and social centre Byzantine Empire for 1000 years and of Ottoman life for another 400. A masterpiece of ancient architecture. It is the location of the Obelisk of Theodosius, the Serpent Column, and the Masonry Obelisk and German Fountain of Wilhelm II.

A nice lunch will be served in a quaint local restaurant before we visit the Million Stone, originally marks the start of all roads throughout the empire. Visiting labyrinthine and chaotic, Grand Bazaar. At its prime, the market was locked down and guarded by more than a hundred soldiers every night, like a fortified castle.

Sultanahmet‘s two great timeless monuments, side by side. Blue Mosque famed for it’s blue tiles, boasting magnificent curves and six towering minarets sees countless worshipers pass through its main doors every day. Contains a visual tip-of-the-hat from its architect, Sedefkar Mehmet Aga, to the architects of Hagia Sophia, Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus, who worked their miracle a thousand years earlier.

On the 26th of December, A.D. 537, Emperor Justinian the Great stood in the Imperial Door, gazed at the cathedral which he had built, and exclaimed, “Glory to God that I have been judged worthy of such a work. Oh Solomon! I have outdone thee!” At this same spot on May 29, 1453, almost a thousand years later, Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, fresh from the final battle for Constantinople, stood in this doorway and ordered the great church to be cleansed, repaired, beautified, and converted to a mosque. Another five centuries, and it was proclaimed a museum by Kemal Ataturk and opened to all.