ACCORDING TO JANE: TURKEY PART TWO

ready set go. what you've all been waiting for... turkey part two. get ready for words and a photo dump.

on the morning of our second day, after a much needed diet coke from the hotel of course (that's just me, emma and i are the only ones that really appreciate the nectar of the gods in this group) we headed over to the hippodrome of constantinople by the blue mosque. unbeknowst to me hippodrome means "horse track." so when the tour guide mentioned horses my ears perked up a little bit. few things about the hippodrome: in 325 AD the emperor constantine built a huge Roman circus (or circle) next to his palace which was were the blue mosque now stands, and this circus was an expansion of an existing hippodrome. the level of the hippodrome is over 6 feet below the current surface. (i can never help but blame this on humans and their trash. it builds up).

here's where things get interesting. apparently constantinople's main sport clubs called the blues and greens (so elementary school don't you think) sponsored chariot teams and engaged in "hooliganism" at sporting events. at a particular chariot race in 532 AD, they started a riot against emperor justinian and after a week, thousands had died and the city was destroyed, including the hagia sophia. justinian put down the revolt by slaughtering 30,000 people (and here my field trip manual would like to point out that they were "mostly greens"...) ALL in the hippodrome! what?????

but the palace sure was beautiful and my occidental mind observed that it looked quite oriental.

we then went to the blue mosque which was my favorite mosque of the whole trip. we took off our shoes and covered our hairs and it was all fun.

view of the hagia sophia leaving the blue mosque.

we then walked over to the topkapi palace north of the blue mosque and hagia sophia along the bosphorus strait. in 1453 the ottoman sultan mehmet II conquered constantinople and built this palace which functioned as the primary residence of the sultans for 400 years!

this palace was converted to a museum in 1924 and has some really amazing exhibits.