Business dictated that I recently had to go to Turkey. The plan was to stay in Istanbul for a few days before travelling on to Russia. I’d never been to Istanbul before, but I’d heard a lot about the Aya Sofia (Hagia Sofia). This was a Christian cathedral, then an Islamic mosque and was used as a place of worship for 1,575 years. This place has history in spades! So, I got in the line and paid my entrance fee. It’s very busy with tourists, being a museum now, and you are constantly waiting for tours to walk pats and get out of the way, but the sense of history in this building is amazing. It’s on the top 100 list of places to visit before you die, and deservedly so.
I loved this place. I get why it served as a place of worship for so long. It is a beautiful building and very impressive. Considering it was dedicated in the year 360, it has seen and heard so much. If the walls could talk, it would tell fascinating stories, although I doubt anything original still stands today. This building even features in the Da Vinci code, by Dan Brown, so it must be good.
The building is rather simple, but has some intriguing aspects. My favourite is the viking graffiti from the 9th century.
The Hagia Sofia is fun to explore. Its a welcome respite from the heat of the early summer, and I’ve very grateful I had the opportunity to explore it.
More to come…….
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