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AYA SOFYA (the Church of the Divine Wisdom)
BLUE MOSQUE
THE HIPPODROME
YEREBATAN SARNICI (The Sunken Cistern)

AYA SOFYA (the Church of the Divine Wisdom)
Istanbul's cultural heritage may cause one's head to spin. A church-turned-mosque Aya Sofya (perhaps better known under its Greek name Haga Sophia or in English as the Church of the Divine Wisdom) is one of the wonders of the world. No longer a religious building now, but a museum, it has retained its spiritual air. On the outside, it is one of the city's symbols with its dome and characteristic four minarets around it. The enormous interior betrays the incredible architecural skill it took two 6th century architects to construct it. Beautiful mosaics were uncovered during the renovation work that took place here in the 1930s. Aya Sofya, though originally a church, inspired many Muslim architects to build similar, domed mosques.

BLUE MOSQUE
The 17th century's Mosque of Sultan Ahmet was to be the answer to the magnificency of Aya Sofya. And it is one. Known as the Blue Mosque because of the colour of the tiles used to decorate the interior. Before one gets to know the inside of the Blue Mosque, however, it is the unique design of the shrine that comes into view. It's a true forest of domes and semi-domes that tower over numerous gates and stairs, until the giant main dome crowns the whole construction.

THE HIPPODROME
A remnant of the city's glorious antique past is the Hippodrome. This ancient entertainment arena used to attract even up to 100,000 spectators who would watch chariot races and circus shows. The Hippodrome's site today is a huge park where tourists and Istanbul dwellers go alike. It is infested with columns, monuments, and statues that emperors would erect to commemorate their rule which, the history tells us, in many cases depended on the outcome of the races that contenders for power would held.
A shopping centre as far away from the modern malls as possible is the Kapali Carsi, the Grand Bazaar. First of all, it is the shopping centre with tradition that dates back a little further than you might expect. It has been here since the 15th century. Though it could not escape the modern shops selling touristy kitsch, it is enough to go past them in order to discover a truly Oriental trading atmosphere. At times, buying is not so important here as bargaining is. The Grand Bazaar is only a part of the huge trading district that also includes the famous Egyptian Bazaar.

YEREBATAN SARNICI (The Sunken Cistern)
Finally, an impressive relic of the ancient engineering. Water shortages are not a problem restricted to our times only and the city of Istanbul, always one of the most populous cities in the world, has known them for centuries now. Visit Yerebatan Sarnici, or the Sunken Cistern, to get to know how the ancient rulers solved the problem of drinking water. As its name suggests, the cistern was used to store the city'ss water as it could hold about 80,000 cubic meters of water (pumped into it by an equally amazing system of aqueducts). The cistern's ceiling is supported by 336 columns and one may walk in between them today along the lighted pathways.