First touristy day in Istanbul

Imagine that you are the only member of your family living in the Bay Area and all your friends and family live far away but want to come visit. How many times will you drive to the Golden Gate Bridge? Alcatraz? Ah, the goodwill patience of our hosts as they took us to the Istanbul “must sees”: Hagia Sophia (site of church built by Constantine, turned mosque during the Ottoman rule, turned museum), the new and blue mosques, the spice market and the Grand Bazar. And we were so glad they were willing to visit these sites for the umpteenth time. They are “must see” for a reason.

Crossing the Bosphorus; feeding the seagulls

The European side with Hagia Sophia on the hill

Inside the centuries old new mosque

Outside Hagia Sophia

So much history in Istanbul née Constantinople née Byzantium. The Crusades, the rise of the Ottoman Empire, Christian patriarchs. It all happened right here.