After pick up at around 08:30 from either your hotel or the Istanbul
cruise port, you will visit the following sights with an experienced and
licensed professional guide:
- Topkapi Palace & Harem Museum: An extensive tour of the residence
of the legendary Ottoman Sultans, now converted into a museum. It consists of
several exhibition halls, such as the Treasury, the porcelain section, the
armory and the rooms devoted to holy relics.
A nice luncheon will be served in a quaint local restaurant.
- Basilica Cistern: Built by Justinian after 532, the Basilica Cistern
stored water for the Great Palace and nearby buildings. Lost to memory, it was
rediscovered in the mid sixteenth century by Petrus Gyllius, who had been sent
to Constantinople by the French King Francis I in search of Byzantine monuments
and manuscripts. Gyllius, who noticed that the local people were lowering
buckets through holes in the floors of their houses to retrieve water, found an
entrance and thus put this mysterious subterranean architectural surprise back
on the map. You will marvel at the almost 10,000 square meters of space
supported by 336 marble columns each nine meters in height.
- Hagia Sophia Museum: The Hagia Sophia that you can visit today was
the primary church of Byzantine Constantinople and was built upon the site of
two earlier churches that had been destroyed. Emperor Justinian I (527-565)
commissioned the project and had materials brought in from all around his
empire for the massive church’s construction. The Hagia Sophia was the most
important church of the Christian East. Structurally, it was the first of its
design and boasted the largest dome that had yet been engineered which provided
a voluminous and well-illuminated interior. After Constantinople fell to the
Ottomans in 1453, the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque and was used as
such throughout the Ottoman period. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the modern Turkish
Republic’s most revered founding father and its first Prime Minister, initiated
the process to have the Hagia Sophia transformed into a museum which opened for
visitors in February 1935.
- Sultanahmet Mosque/Blue Mosque: This mosque was built by Sultan
Ahmet I between 1609 and 1616 and is located in the district of old Istanbul
that is named after this Ottoman Sultan and it is distinguished by its six
slender minarets. The central dome is 43 m in height and 33.4 m in diameter and
there are 260 stained glass windows throughout the mosque. Due to the
intricately decorated blue, green and red tiles of its interior, it has long
been referred to as the Blue Mosque. These tiles, produced and
painted by hand in Iznik (ancient Nicaea), are an attraction in and of
themselves. The Quranic inscriptions that you will see throughout the
mosque were made by Seyyid Kasım Gubari, one of the most famous calligraphers
of his time.
- Roman Hippodrome and Monuments: The ancient Hippodrome was the center of
Byzantine social life and the scene of fiercely competitive chariot races. It
was located in the square that is now in front of the Blue Mosque and is still
the site of ancient relics from its glory days. These are the Obelisk of
Theodosius, the bronze Serpentine Column, and the Column of Constantine.
Remains of the curved end of the Hippodrome wall can be seen on the southwest
side of the three monuments.
After the tour, you will be returned to your hotel. You may also choose to
part from your guide at the location of the last visited sight of the tour.
Please note that the order in
which sights are visited may vary
Please make note of
the following:
- There is a 30% discount for children
under the age of 7 and children aged 2 and younger are free
- Haghia Sophia Museum is closed on
Monday, replaced with Topkapi Palace Museum
- There are no shopping stops made during
our tour but if our guests would like to do some shopping following the
conclusion of the tour we can be of assistance
- It is advised to wear conservative
clothing when visiting mosques and churches
- You are kindly requested to present
yourself at the pick up point 15 minutes prior to the preadvised pick up time
- Smoking is not permitted in
transportation vehicles nor in museums
- Please note that the sights visited in
this tour are also available as two separate half day tours
info@apasastravel.com
0232 892 9547
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