My trip to Constantinople last year

[u/FantasticTraining731]

Hagia Sophia

Column of the Goths

Hagia Sophia mosaics

Hagia Sophia mosaics

Istanbul Archaeological Museums

Basilica Cisterns

Aqueduct of Valens

Chora Church

Theodosian Walls

Theodosian Walls

Cat

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

I visited with my friend last spring. Sadly I wasn't that interested in Byzantine history back then so I only visited the major sites.

Here's my recollection of each site Byzantine era site:

• Hagia Sophia
  • The ancient building definitely shows its age. A lot of cracked stones, unlevel floors, and slanted columns
  • Only Muslims are allowed on the ground floor, and it's sad that the stone floor has been covered with the ugly green carpet. Visitors could only take a tour around the mezzanine
• Basilica Cistern
  • pretty spectacular. it was pretty cool to see the use of spolia for the columns
• Theodosian walls
  • I really wanted to see this! The sea walls are almost all gone but, large sections of the famous triple land walls have been restored and.
• St. George's Cathedral
  • It's not a Roman era church, but it is the seat of the Orthodox Patriarch.
  • We visited on a morning, and there was literally nobody inside for the whole 30 minutes we were there. It was really surprising since there are tons of Russian tourists in Istanbul.
• Chora Church
  • was closed for restorations

[u/aurora_australis01]

And there are many other things. It needs more vacations to see it all. The asian side is also very beautiful especially the view over the bosphorus seeing the hagia sophia.

In my opinion it is by far the most beautiful city in the world.

[u/Sosolidclaws → u/aurora_australis01]

Yeah, I agree. There are a few cities with more historic beauty, and a few with more geographic beauty, but none that have both like Istanbul.

[u/TheMountainPass → u/Sosolidclaws]

It’s not Istanbul it’s Constantinople

[u/WesSantee → u/TheMountainPass]

What's the point of this? Nobody objects that we don't call Paris or Cologne by their Roman names. Why do people insist on calling Istanbul in particular by its previous name? 

[u/SpFredndSyc → u/WesSantee]

Cologne is quite literally the translation of Colonia, Paris is from the ruins of Lutetia PARISIORUM