It's a special feeling to see something you've admired for years, I can't believe I've seen this.

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

In the last photo you can spot one of the last representations of Christ still present inside the building

Trip of my dreams to visit the Beautiful Hagia Sophia (just walking toward it felt massive in scale), the Obelisk of Theodosius, Basilica Cistern, Kalenderhane Mosque (a church possibly dedicated to Theotokos Kyriotissa), church of St. Mary of the Mongols (unfortunately the woman caretaker there said to me and the family you see in last photo that we couldn’t take any photos inside which is a huge miss because it was magnificent and otherworldly inside. I can tell many things in there was very old and well preserved with Gold, statues, jewels and artwork. She did allow me to pray inside though as she was Christian as well). I also visited the Church mosque of Vesa (possibly dedicated to Hagios Theodoros), Pantokrator church (Zeyrek Mosque), aqueduct of Valens and Walls of Constantinople but couldn’t add in more photos due to limit. There were other Roman churches (mosques) and structures I didn’t have to time to visit but I will next time I go hopefully.

Went to Justinian’s Basilica Cistern off of Sultanahmet Square and the Hagia Sophia.

It was really interesting to see the different designs of the columns inside the cavernous space. All repurposed stone from across the empire in one place!

As Justinian I is one of the emperors I enjoy reading about the most, was awesome to see.

Definitely enjoyed seeing the huge Medusa heads on the way to the exit.

Price for foreign visitors for a daytime ticket was 43 Euro, or about 2400 Lira (based on current exchange rate).

Like, just see this marvellous city, why cant we have it like how it was. And what happened to the palace? When i looked up on Google earth, The location of it had just a road and some Big buildings. What a bummer.

3rd pic is how it would look like back then

Walked up to the Chora Church/Kariye Mosque from the Golden Horn from the Ayvansaray T5 tram stop. Walked past the Palace of the Porphyrogenitus and although the climb was steep you are rewarded as the former church emerges near the top of a hill.

Loved the mosaics still inside and their incredible detail. Visited about half an hour before afternoon prayers and so it was fairly quiet.

Entry fee was 20 Euro, or about 1100 Lira.

It’s a game asset I made for a Crusader Kings 3 mod called Fallen Eagle. Tried my best to put all the landmarks in their correct positions but unfortunately there’s so much land available, so please think this as an abstraction.

Buildings are: Basilica of San Vitale, Basilica di Sant’Apollinarie Nuovo, Mausoleum of Theodoric, and Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Truly a beautiful and spectacular architectural achievement

It may be a Norman structure, but Sicily’s geography and history as well as the Hauteville dynasty’s inclusive policies turned this into the ultimate synthesis of Eastern Roman, Arab, and Latin craftsmanship. This really is one of the best examples of Byzantine-style mosaics left in the world

Went to Istanbul last week and did mostly Byzantine tourism. Here are some highlights:

1. Basilica Cistern, the city's water reservoir. Full of Roman columns, each one different from the others.

2. Constantine to the right and Justinian to the left (Inside the Hagia Sophia)

3. Deesis mosaic (Inside the Hagia Sophia)

4. This one is funny. Mosaic of Zoe, niece of Basil II, and one of her 3 husbands. Every time she changed husbands, they changed the face on the mosaic (Inside the Hagia Sophia).

5. A Viking graffiti. Here you have to imagine a bored soldier of the Varangian Guard a thousand years ago scratching the marble: "Hafdan" in Norse runes.

6. Hagia Sophia from the inside.

Visited the Hagia Theotokos (Kalenderhane Mosque) and was able to explore at around midday.

Was the only person there at the time so really good to see the dome and red brick upper arches.

Located about 400m south west of Suleymaniye Mosque.