ISTANBUL – BYZANTIUM & OTTOMAN TOUR 

After breakfast, pick-up from the hotel, meet your guide for Full Day Ottoman & Byzantium Tour.

 Hagia Sophia, the biggest church constructed by the East Roman Empire in Istanbul, It was used as a church for 916 years but, following the conquest of Istanbul by Fatih Sultan Mehmed, the Hagia Sophia was converted into mosque. Afterwards, it was used as a mosque for 482 years. Under the order of Atatürk and the decision of the Council of Ministers, Hagia Sophia was converted into a museum in 1935. (Hagia Sophia will be replaced by Yerebatan Cistern (Basilica Cistern) on Monday.) The Blue Mosque (Called Sultan Ahmet Camii in Turkish) is an historical mosque in Istanbul. The Mosque was built between 1609 and 1616 years, during the rule of Ahmed I. just like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasa and hospice.(Blue Mosque will be replaced by Nuruosmaniye Mosque on Friday.)Hippodrome of Constantinople, located in Sultan Ahmet/Istanbul, was a public arena mainly for chariot races. The oldest monument of Constantinople is the Obelisk in the Hippodrome, which was erected by the emperor Theodosius I in 390, but is in fact much, much older. Grand Bazaar, the oldest and the largest covered market place in the world is situated in the center of the city. Topkapı Palace Museum that exhibits the imperial collections of the Ottoman Empire and maintains an extensive collection of books and manuscripts in its library. It is housed in a palace complex that served as the administrative center and residence of the imperial Ottoman court from about 1478 to 1856. It opened as a museum in 1924, a year after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. The Topkapı Palace Museum is notable not only for its architecture and collections but also for the history and culture of the Ottoman Empire that’s it recalls, in the end of tour, back to hotel. Overnight at hotel in Istanbul.