It looks just like the pictures in middle school history books. And there is so much history here.

Constantinople was the capital of the Byzantine, Roman and Ottoman empires from 560BC to 1453AD. It’s name comes from Constantin who, in 330AD, conquered and consolidated empires that stretched from Spain to Syria, from Gaul/France to Alexandria. He was the first Emperor to fully embrace Christianity and put an end to the persecution of the Christians.

Constantinople prospered through trade (and taxation). Traders came to it’s Grand Bazaar, by some accounts the oldest shopping mall in existence today, to exchange goods that made their way here along the Silk Road (China), the Kings Road (Petra, Jordan), and the maritime Spice Road (Egypt, Sri Lanka and India).

As with all great empires, there are masterfully constructed water systems like the Cistern we visited and monuments to events and emperors like the obelisks and palaces, churches and mosques.

The Hagia Sophia (pronounced eye-ah-sophia) was built as a byzantine church during the time of Constantine the Great. Christianity flourished from 330 until 1200s until the Ottomans conquered the area. Under the Ottoman Empire, the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque and became the model for future mosque construction.

The mosques here are beautiful. The blue mosque is famous for its iznik tiles – originally these ceramics were available to anyone but later their production was made exclusively for mosques and the Sultan.

Today, we know Constantinople as Istanbul. The name Istanbul comes from the Greek for “in to the City” which is how the place was commonly referred to for centuries. This place was “THE City” long before New York became The City. The name was officially changed to Istanbul in 1930.

Istanbul is a great cultural city and has something for everyone. We were spoiled again with friends to share our experiences with. We explored the city together, and separately, coming together at the end of the day for great meals and a trip to Mado for Kunefe (a roll of pistachio and honey) and Turkish coffee (kahve).

As with all places, the longer we stay the more there is to do. Great neighborhoods to walk around in and modern museums accompany the tourist sites – we only saw a fraction of them.

When I return…I will spend a week on a “kahve” crawl and the evenings sourcing the best meat grill and lamb shish! And maybe take in a museum or two…