Istanbul - The historical monuments

Istanbul I found was an incredibly varied and beautiful city of around 17 million! The historic district is on the peninsula that sits between the Bosphorous and the Golden Horn. Perfectly placed for a city that was the capitol of the Holy Roman Empire and later the Ottoman Empire for 500 years!
This being my first time in a Muslim country I was fascinated by the mosques and minarets (I'm so used to Cathedrals and bell towers!) What I found interesting was seeing thie Haya Sophia (Holy Wisdom) - originally built by Justinian to be the largest Catholic(!) church in the world - turned into a Mosque. Not unlike what happened in Cordoba to the mosque there, which afterwards was converted/made into a Cathedral. Here is the Haya Sophia now, as a Mosque with four minarets


The "Blue" Mosque - also known as SultanAhment Mosque - is across from the Haya Sophia. This is the view of the internal courtyard


The blue mosque is beautiful inside - the carpets and lights are nice - but I really liked the opennes of Mosques. No Choirs, chapels or pews to fill up the space, just carpets, lights and beautiful designs on the walls. The designs are all blue and red, hence the name - you can't really tell that from this picture unfortunately
Of course every great empire has a castle for its rulers. The Emperors of the Ottoman Empire lived in Topkapi Palace - entrance below .