Full day walking tour of Istanbul

8am start, 5 pm finish.
Guide, 1 Chinese man, a couple from Netherlands and us. Nice small group.

We start at Topkapi Palace. We just beat the queues.
Then to the Hippodrome of Constantinople which is what I was calling Sultanahmet Square, next door to our hotel.

Hippodrome of Constantinople, located in Sultanahmet/Istanbul, was a public arena mainly for chariot races. The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos (horse) and dromos (way). The Hippodrome of Constantinople was also home to gladiatorial games, official ceremonies, celebrations, protests, torture to the convicts and so on. Hippodrome functioned all in Roman (203-330 CE), Byzantine (330-1453 CE), and Ottoman (1453-1922) periods.

When Roman Emperor Septimius Severus conquered ancient Constantinople named Byzantion in 203 CE, he named the city as Augusta Antonina and built many structures. Hippodrome was one of the significant structures built by Severus. However, the first Hippodrome was a small one. In 330 CE, one of the first things that Constantine I rebuilt was the Hippodrome. He enlarged the hippodrome and connected it to the Great Palace of Constantinople that today lies underneath the Blue Mosque. Today the foundations of the Great Palace of Constantinople can be seen at the Museum of the Great Palace Mosaics. 

The capacity of the hippodrome was approximately 40,000 and it was free and open to male members of the community. At least eight different games could be held throughout the day and it was also used as a symbol of power for the empire. The hippodrome was decorated with monuments that were brought in from across the empire including the Serpent Column (Yılanlı Sütun) from Delphi and Obelisk of Thutmosis III (Obelisk of Theodosius) from Egypt. With these landmarks and monuments -brought from all around the world- the Byzantine Empire was proudly showing its strength and thousands of kilometers long territory ruled by them.
The Hippodrome was also used by the Ottomans as well and they named it At Meydanı (Horse Square), yet they simply used it as a square. Today, the area is known as Sultanahmet Square and it follows the ground plan and dimensions of the hippodrome.

Amazing facts about the Hippodrome of Constantinople

In 390 CE, Byzantine emperor Theodosius I brought the Obelisk of Thutmosis III from Karnak (Southern Egypt) to Constantinople, erected it inside the hippodrome and named it “Obelisk of Theodosius” (Dikilitaş in Turkish). It is one of the twenty-nine Egyptian obelisks in the world. Despite its approx. 3500 years old age, the obelisk is in very good condition.

During the Nika Riots in 532 CE, Byzantine emperor Justinian I ordered the killing of 30,000 people locked in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. They were protesting against him.

During the Byzantine period, the Hippodrome was the centre of the Constantinopolitans’ everyday life. Huge amounts were bet on chariot races, and there were four teams that took part in these races, each one financially sponsored and supported by a different political party (Deme) within the Byzantine Senate: The Blues (Venetoi), the Greens (Prasinoi), the Reds (Rousioi) and the Whites (Leukoi).

Then on to the Basilica Cistern, the ex- underground water system which now also houses sculpture exhibitions.

We walk back streets to find lunch with our guide.

Then to Hagia Sophia Mosque and the Blue Mosque. The Blue Mosque closes to visitors, only open to people who are there to pray but we can go into the courtyard and peek through the windows.

After that we head to the Grand Bazaar where we are promised some shopping time. We just walk straight through. As we're all pretty tired by then so I don't think any of us minded. We can go back another day ( but not Sunday, it's closed)

Big day so we go back to the hotel for an hour then go out for tea, a night walk and then bed.Read more