Byzantine Byways

I returned from Istanbul this past thursday. As a city that I have dreamed about since childhood it did not dissapoint. I spent 6 days there and didnt begin to scratch the surface of the city. Churches, Mosques, Walls, Cisterns, Hippodromes, Palaces, and Streets all still standing and giving testament to millenia of history. It has a way of making you small and inconsequential when faced with the immense march of history. Pictures dont even begin to give justice to the immense beauty and mistical feeling of the place, but here are some of my favorites.

A panormama of the Bosphorous, the Old City, and the Golden Horn from the Galata Tower.



The "New" Mosque, from Galata Bridge with fishing poles in the foreground.



One of thousands of minarets in the city on my first evening in Istanbul.



The Golden Horn, I would like to think that the ancestors of these seagulls saw the countless waves of history come and go through this harbour.



The Suleiman Mosque, on of the most beautifull things I have ever seen created by the hand of man. Sitting in the courtyard near sunset, there isnt a human being on earth that wouldnt believe that good excists.





The Blue Mosque



Haga Sofia: Bulky on the outside from almost two millenia of repairs and structural changes, but on the inside it is beyond description.



A side street in the old part of town, its mindblowing to think that Roman Emperors, Sultans, and Crusaders all walked the same streets.



The gratuitous "Look at me in in Asia!" picture.



On the Bosphorous.





A grave that I liked.



The Archeological Museum occupied my attention for an entire afternoon.



The end of the Orient Express and the return to Bulgaria.