Tuesday 18 September – Vacating Vilnius, invading Istanbul.

We reluctantly left Vilnius this morning and boarded our Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul, arriving mid-afternoon.  We booked into the Arena Hotel, right in the heart of historic Istanbul, where we stayed during our last visit in 2012. Within a short time we were out exploring, first just up the road to the “sphendone”, the semi-circular end of the Hippodrome and the only section still visible (the rest of the Hippodrome, which was some 480 metres long and 120 metres wide, has been buried several metres under the present surface level for many centuries).  Work began on the Hippodrome towards the end of the 2nd century but it wasn’t completed until Emperor Constantine assumed power in 327.  The spectator stands above the Sphendone, which was basically a huge retaining wall to counter the slope of the land at that end of the Hippodrome, were the favourite viewing spot for the thousands of spectators who attended the frequent chariot races, as there were more likely to be collisions and spills on the tight corners.

We walked through the area of the Hippodrome, stopping at the obelisk of the 10^th century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, then to Constantine’s Column, dating back to 1500 BCE and brought from Egypt by the first Emperor Constantine. We side-tracked to the Blue Mosque, built between 1609 and 1616, during the reign of Ottoman Sultan Ahmet I as an imperial show of strength to complement the imposing Hagia Sophia, which faces it across Sultanahmet Square.  We entered the mosque (after waiting a few minutes for the completion of evening prayers)  and were a little disappointed to find that it is undergoing maintenance and a large platform has been erected about 10 metres above the floor, blocking the view to the magnificent domes.

We then walked out and past the Hagia Sophia (that’s for another day), then sauntered back through the Hippodrome before stopping for dinner at a Hippodrome-side restaurant, a delicious meal for the four of us that involved Turkish moussaka, seafood casserole and whole fried fish and salad, accompanied by bread and dips, then rounded off with complimentary baklava and apple tea.  A wonderful introduction to this great city