On Sunday, March 13, 2011, Yakup Kalender, an advanced English student of mine, kindly took the time to accompany me on a discovery trip to some of the most celebrated historic architectural sites in Istanbul.

The sites we visited weren't even a spec less impressive than I had expected. Loaded with historical references, the places pictured in the photos below are genuine archeological jewels attesting to the evolution of Human kind.

Hagia Sophia, an Orthodox Basilica presumably as old as the bible itself, was the Cathedral of Constantinople from circa 360 AD to 1453, year in which Mehmed the Conqueror captured the city.

Between those two dates there was a lapse of approximately 60 years (1204-1261 ±) in which Hagia Sophia was a Roman Catholic Cathedral. Then, a few centuries later, it became a Mosque and remained so for nearly half a millennium (1453-1931). Since 1935, Hagia Sophia has been a museum.

The Blue Mosque's real name is Sultan Ahmed Mosque (built in 1609-1616). It is known as the Blue Mosque for the mostly-bluish ceramic tiles that cover its walls and ceilings. There are approximately 20,000 tiles covering the interiors of the Blue Mosque, all of them handcrafted in the city of Iznik.

Incidentally, the city of Iznik was known in ancient times as "Nicaea". In case you didn't know, Nicaea is a city of the utmost importance for the Christian religion, given that it was there where the first two Ecumenical Councils took place. Nicaea is also the city where the bible allegedly first started taking shape as a single book.

Istanbul is certainly a city that exudes history.

We didn't have time to visit the interiors of the Palace of Topkapi (pronounced TopkapA), but I intend to dedicate a full day to do so sometime soon.

In the meantime, my very sincere thanks to my friend Yakup, for so patiently showing me a few of the many wonders of his city.

To view larger versions of the photos just click on any of them and keep clicking "next".