Istanbul Layover in the morning
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I started my day early around 7am due to jet leg, and extremely limited time in Istanbul. As I walked out of the hotel, the new president, Erdogan, kindly welcomed me again.
I found a random bakery on the road to grab some breakfast — 2 pieces of bread and a cup of Turkish coffee. Many local people came here for breads as well.
I also spotted a Chinese restaurant nearby — would I end up eating here?
On the plaza (Hippodrome on Constantinople), I saw some of the important monuments I missed the previous time. The Serpent Column, once part of a sacrificial tripod in Ancient Greece, was dated 2500 years ago. It may be the oldest object that survived antiquity to this day. Obelisk of Theodosius looked so well preserved that I thought it was a replica at first glance. It had existed for 20 centuries before being shipped here by a Roman emperor, and stood for another 20 centuries; It will be here for even more 20 centuries to witness where our civilization heads to.
Upon the Blue Mosque’s scheduled opening time , its staff came out to announce the opening time being postponed to 9:30. So I turned to Hagia Sophia quickly before the crowds’ arrival.
Once the center of Western civilization, now a cultural icon of the Byzantines and the top tourist attraction in Istanbul, Hagia Sophia is always surrounded by lines and lines of tourists eager to enter. Many of the tourists are cruise ship passengers that come in thousands. I wasn’t able to enter the mosque during my visit in January, but this time I had better luck.
Upon entering Hagia Sophia, the Greek song “You will come like a lightning” automatically played in my mind. Hagia Sophia is the culminating architecture in antiquity. The pendentive dome that has been used so much in Western architecture was originally invented here. It was where Emperor Justinian, under whom the church was constructed, upon seeing its completion and amazed by its beauty, exclaimed “O Solomon, I Have Vanquished Thee!”
However, the huge Arabic shahada showed in every corner of the building clearly reminded visitors that Constantinople had fallen. The mosque was crowded with tourists all the time for good reasons. As a non-religious person, I possessed an avid mind no less pious than a believer, to set foot in a place that had witnessed centuries of historical events.
Constantinople was synonymous to the Byzantine Empire in its final centuries, when the empire had lost most of its territories, but its unbreakable capital always stood firm. On May 29th, 1453 (the very same day as my visit), its people gathered in Hagia Sofia, the absolutely final ground of the Romans after millenniums. Their prayers did not turn their fates. Legend has it that two priests disappeared into Hagia Sophia’s walls when the Turkish troops broke in, and will reappear on the day Istanbul falls back to Christian hands again. The Greeks’ “Megali Idea” died after their yet another devastating defeat after the WWI. Originally a church, then a mosque, Hagia Sophia was turned to a museum by Mustafa Kemal, the founding father of the Turkish Republic, hoping to end the centuries-old conflict once and for all, until Erdogan turned it back to a mosque in 2020, stirring huge controversy. The day before this election, Erdogan ended his campaign at a prayer here at Hagia Sophia, while his opponent Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu ended his at Mustafa Kemal’s mausoleum, symbolizing which direction they wanted the republic to head to respectively.
Hagia Sophia housed a number of mosaics, the representative form of Byzantine art. Unfortunately, due to Erdogan’s plan to convert it back to a mosque, many of the precious mosaics, except for two, were located in rooms under construction. The one below had Mary holding the child in the middle, Justinian holding Hagia Sophia on her right, and Constantine I holding the city of Constantinople on her left.
I finally got to enter the Blue Mosque to see its layers of layers of domes. After visiting Hagia Sophia, I felt the interior of the Blue Mosque was not as impressive as its view from outside. Istanbul, to mirror Rome, also was built on 7 hills, with one mosque sit on each hill. When I have another chance to come here again, I would surely visit the outer hills one by one, until I reach Constantinople’s original walls, to witness and imagine the moment it fell.
Another important site to visit in Sultanahmet was the Basilica Cistern, which was not a palace, but Istanbul’s underground water supply system traced back to the early Roman age. It featured hundreds of columns with various designs (two of which were carved with Medusa’s heads, with no obvious meanings) taken from other buildings.
I then took the tram to the Grand Bazaar, the huge market I wanted to visit so badly in January. I even requested my taxi driver to stop briefly on our way to airport, in a busy area difficult for parking, for me to walk inside for 5 minutes. This time I got enough time to walk as much as I wanted — turned out it was not a highlight I thought to be. It was renovated too much for an ancient bazaar, but rather a relatively modern indoor shopping center selling mainly gold, jewelry and souvenirs that I was not interested in.
The outdoor markets, on the other hand, were interesting, particularly an outdoor book street not far from the Grand Bazaar.
University of Istanbul was not open for visitors. I started to imagine what life would be like to be a professor or lecturer here, since Istanbul was a city I felt so comfortable living in.
I continued to walk further in an area frequented by university students to observe people here and there.
After finishing a cup of orange juice (the pomegranate one was unfortunately out of stock) by the road, I had to keep going, taking metro to the airport and ending my very productive Istanbul layover. On my way back, there would be another overnight layover for me to see the city for the third time.
