Istanbul - October 2022

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The wall of Constantinople protected the Roman capital for a thousand years against all the great enemies of Rome until it finally fell in 1453 to the Ottomans.

On the final day of my visit to Istanbul, my guide Volkan and I enjoyed some tea while overlooking the Golden Horn of Constantinople.

The Golden Horn was the famous waterway that gave three sides of protection to the capital.

It was a life’s ambition of mine to visit the great Hagia Sophia completed in 537 AD by the Roman Emperor Justinian the Great.  It was the center of Christianity and Roman power for a thousand years!

The beautiful golden mosaics above the entryways to the Hagia Sophia rendered 1,500 years ago By artists commissioned by Justinian.  Artwork such as this is prohibited by Islam, they have special covers whenever its being used for services, but then opened for tourists and never damaged over the years.

Built in 532 by Justinian the Great as a special underground water supply for the capital, its the size of two football fields and a marvel of engineering.  It is also breathtakingly beautiful.

The obelisk was originally erected in Egypt 1500 BC.  Around 350 AD, a Roman emperor had to transported down the Nile to Alexandrea on the coast of the Egyptian Mediterranean.  But in 390 AD, 2000 years after it was built, the Emperor Theodosius moved it to ts final resting spot in the Roman Capital of Constantinople in the middle of its famous Hippodrome where it stands today, 3,500 years after it was built by the Egyptians.