Today was the first time we had a private guide for the 6 of us. What a time we had!

A quick breakfast at our local café was followed by meeting the guide (best one ever) at the metro stop across the street. About 10 minutes later we found ourselves outside Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia has had a colorful history having been a Chalcedonian church, then an Eastern Orthodox church, then a Catholic church until 1261 when it was reclaimed as an Eastern Orthodox church again until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. It served as a mosque until 1935, when it became a museum. In 2020, the site once again became a mosque.

The guide got us to the site just as it opened, and as you might see from the photos, there were very few people there. The mosque is an incredible structure that was constructed in just 5 years. It was interesting to see the remnants of the differing uses of the site, especially where the frescos and mosaics had been covered when first converted to a mosque and then attempted to be uncovered later. The work was suspended because of the damage to the underlying surfaces.

After the mosque, we hustled over to the Topkapi Palace Museum. Again to beat the crowds, the guide started “backwards” and we went deep into the 3rd layer of the complex and worked our way to the front. Topkapi Palace is now a museum and library which from the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans. After the 17th century, Topkapı gradually lost its importance. The sultans of that period preferred to spend more time in their new palaces along the Bosphorus. The palace complex has hundreds of rooms and chambers, but only the most important are accessible to the public as of 2020, including the Ottoman Imperial Harem and the Treasury, called Hazine where the Spoonmaker's Diamond and the Topkapi Dagger are on display.

By then, the crowds had arrived in force. We went across the street, jumped the line with the guide and went into the Basilica Cistern. The cistern was built in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I. The cistern provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings on the First Hill, and continued to provide water to the Topkapı Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 and into modern times. It is said the cistern could hold enough water to outlast a siege of a year. Today it is kept with little water, for public access inside the space.

We’d had enough of historical sites and figured it was time for lunch and then shopping. The guide took us to a true hole in the wall kebab place that was out of the world.

From there we headed to a calligraphy store where an artist painted intricate scenes on dried dieffenbachia leaves (sourced from Florida no less). Then to the guide’s favorite jewelry store where the gem Zultanite was featured. Zultanite is only mined in a small region of Turkey and at an elevation of over 4,000 feet. Depending on its light source, zultanite's color varies between a yellowish green, light gold, and purplish pink. Its color can be pastel green in outdoor light and beige pink in incandescent light.

I was hoping the tour was over and we’d have time for some naps. But that wasn’t in the cards. Off we went to a Turkish rug dealer that Mae and I had been to on our last trip to Istanbul. They spent a lot of time educating us and their time was not wasted; several purchases were made with generous discounts.

After a tram ride back to the condo, we changed and had a fabulous dinner on the roof of a hotel overlooking the Bosphorus.