Our first destination in Istanbul was Hagia Sophia. The icon of the Byzantine Empire, the equivalent to grandeur. Built upon Constantine's earlier version, Justinian's Hagia Sophia was unique in style, enormous in size, and for many generations of the Byzantine court, the white-elephant to maintain. One of the biggest achievements for architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus was the gigantic 100-feet dome without resting on any solid wall support. The cathedral was completed in AD 537, only five and a half years after Justinian went ahead with the project. The iconic cathedral Hagia Sophia of Constantinople was later converted into a mosque when the Muslims conquered the city and transformed Constantinople to nowadays' Istanbul.
After seeing some of the remarkable mosaics on the upper level, we left Hagia Sophia, crossed a small park, and arrived at the entrance of the equally famous Blue Mosque.
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