TURKEY 2026: WALKING AROUND ISTANBUL PART II -- HAGIA SOPHIA MOSQUE AND THEODOSIUS CISTERN

 June 23, 2026

The Hagia Sophia (Greek for "holy wisdom") was built between 532 and 537 by order of Justinian the Great as the cathedral of Constantinople. For more than 500 years, it was the largest church in the world. It was rebuilt after an earthquake in 994 and used as an Eastern Orthodox or a Catholic cathedral until 1453. In 1453 after the Ottoman's conquered Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque and added minarets. It became known as the Aya Sofya. 

The secularist government led by Kemal Ataturk turned the mosque into a museum in 1935. During World War II, the minarets housed machine guns. Over the succeeding decades, the building fell into serious disrepair, but preservationists worked to restore it from 1997 to 2006

This is my photo of the Hagia Sophia taken when we visited Istanbul in 2010 when it was still a museum. I think there were still minarets, but they are outside the boundaries of this photo.

By 2010 they had uncovered many of the early Christian mosaics on the wall that had been stuccoed over during the years the structure was a mosque. We were very excited to see them.

In 2020, Turkish President Erdogan announced that the museum would once again revert to being a mosque. This controversial decision brought on global criticism. Even UNESCO was upset. However, the government dcreed that it would be a "working mosque," open to anyone, and the Christian icons and mosaics on the walls would be protected.

In 2025, an extensive restoration project began, and a year later, we showed up in Istanbul. Here is what the Hagia Sophia looked like:

Not quite the gorgeous structure we had seen 16 years before, but I'm sure all this renovation will be worth it in the end.

The interior is cavernous and lacks the elegance of the Blue Mosque, which was built much later and basically replaced this one for centuries.

TURKEY 2026: WALKING AROUND ISTANBUL, PART I -- THE OBELISK OF THEODOSIUS AND THE BLUE MOSQUE

 June 22-23, 2026

We had a full day before we had to board our ship, so the Joneses, Kenisons, and I (Bob was away for the day on a birding trip with a guide) planned a walking tour of Istanbul. Bob and I had previously visited Istanbul  in 2010 (those blog posts begin here), and 16 years is a long time. The city felt different--in some ways more modernized, in other ways more restored to its ancient past.

We walked from our hotel to Topkapi Palace, built in 1459, six years after the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople, then the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In its heyday, the Sultan's harem lived here, along with state officials. However, it was basically abaondoned as a residence in the 17th century, although it did retain government-related uses. In the mid-19th century, the sultan moved the court out as well, but the palace continued to serve as a treasury, library, and mint. After the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, Topkapi Palace became a museum, which it has continued to be to the present day.

Unfortunately, the palace itself is NOT wheelchair friendly. (Hooray for the Americans with Disabilities Act that requires ramps and elevators in public places. I really notice the lack of equal access in foreign countries.) We enjoyed a walk around the grounds anyway.

This is the Hagia Irine, originally built in the 4th century during the riegn of Emperor Constantine, making it one of the earliest Christian churches in Constantinople/Istanbul. It was one of only two churches never converted into a mosque. These days it is a museum and concert hall.

The Imperial Gate, one of three ceremonial gates at Topkapi Palace, was commissioned in 1478 and reconstructed in 1867.

GERMANY, NUREMBERG: AROUND TOWN

 May 19, 2025

After a heavy morning touring sites relevant to the days before and after World War II, we were ready for a change of pace. 

Today's Nuremberg is a large city of over a half-million people. Its roots are in the 11th century, and by the 14th century it had become one of the three most important cities of Germany. In the 15th and 16th centuries it was the center of the German Renaissance, a central city of the Holy Roman Empire, and a significant center of science and the arts.

Extensively damaged during World War II, much of medieval Nuremberg was subsequently restored, including its historic city walls and its impressive castle. Although many people, myself included, tend to connect the city to the Nuremberg Trials, there are a lot of sites to see that are unrelated to the war. 

We had already seen the old town area around the Market Square, so it was time to venture a bit farther out. 

On the left is a doorway dating to the late 16th century that served as an entry to the Fleischbrücke, or Meat Bridge--hence the steer on top. This bridge is one of the few structures that survived the bombings of WWII unscathed. Dancing Peasants (1980) is based on an engraving by Albrecht Dürer from 1514. The cute photobomber is married to me.

COLOMBIA: THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS

 March 14-23, 2023

After many of our trips, starting with some of the trips we took with our kids, we have made a list of all of our favorite experiences and things we want to remember. We decided to do that for this trip. So, in no particular order other than this is the order we came up with them, here are our favorite experiences, places, people, and things from our trip to Colombia.

- Fruit EVERYWHERE! Mangosteen was our favorite, but we also enjoyed granadilla, dragonfruit, lulo, and guanábana.

- Fruit juice of all kinds, but especially the kind mixed with milk (probably sweetened condensed milk).

- And speaking of juice, the raspberry grape juice with dinner in Bogotá was Judy's favorite.

- Cartagena--everything about it. It was our favorite city, and Carolina was our favorite guide.

RUSSIA, KALININGRAD: EEL FOR DINNER, A CAT CITY, AND GOING HOME

June 29-30, 2019

Just before we arrived at the end the Curonian Spit, we stopped for dinner at what looked like a lodge surrounded by cabins. The restaurant had a fun atmosphere created in part by the heads of a dozen or so African animals on the walls. While we were waiting for our food, the bombastic Russian owner, dressed in camouflage pants, a dark t-shirt, and black gloves, invited Bob to sit in a chair "that used to belong to Kaiser Wilhelm and then to Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe."  It was a large armchair with pretty new upholstery, and we suppose it could have been the Kaiser's and Goering's chair, but we were a little skeptical.

The owner brought us a glass of complimentary wine as we were waiting for our food, which we refused, explaining that we don't drink any alcohol. He was very insistent, but we continued to refuse it, and we were afraid we had offended him.

To start the meal, Bob ordered a really good egg, cucumber, and pickle salad . . .

. . . and I had a delicious fresh sauerkraut salad.

Bob was delighted to discover they had one large fresh eel that they would bake for us. (We discovered later that they charged us $70 for it, a huge amount given what we were paying for other things in Kaliningrad.) It was AMAZING (once I could get over its appearance)--tender, moist, and so flavorful. The spine was still in but easy to cut through for individual portions and then to remove. Unlike most regular fish, there were very few little bones.