A sunny day in Istanbul!

When we woke up this morning the sun was shining in Istanbul!  What a lovely surprise!  We immediately did our morning chores, had some breakfast and went outside.  The first thing that we noticed was the stray animals walking around and bathing in the sun.  The Turkish people have a very humane way in which they deal with these animals.  According to them any animal has the right to live a full life.  They thus do not believe in putting these animals down.  The animals are collected by the municipal council, fixed / castrated and inoculated.  Then they get tagged on the ear so that the public knows that it is safe to approach them.  See the photos below of some doggies and kitties.

We went for a long walk along the old city walls, usually called the Theodosian Walls.  It used to consist of great arcs, monumental gates and towers.  A lot of reconstruction work is still being done as the walls are in a poor condition at the moment.  The walls were built from AD 412 to 422.  See the photos below.  On the left Dirkie stands next to one of the towers of the wall.  On the right Alex stands next to the remains of the wall.

Our main aim for the day was to go and visit the Church of St Saviour in Chora.  The church is very special in that very old frescoes and tile mosaics are today still fairly well preserved.  The church was built from 1315 to 1321.  The photo below is of the outside of the church.

 

 

 

The frescoes and mosaics illustrate beautifully the genealogy of Christ.  See the photos below.  In the top left photo are Christ and Mary.  Just below it is Christ holding the bible.  On the top right is a scribe and in the lower right picture is an illustration of a scene that we cannot recall.

Below are two pictures of the main corridors inside the Chora church.

The photos below are of the main dome inside the church depicting the Virgin Mary with Christ in her arms.  The twelve apostles surround them.

After we visited the Chora church we went for a walk along the Bosphorus sea that forms a large canal between the old and new parts of Istanbul.  See the photos below.  The bottom photo is of the New Mosque.  We could not enter as it was prayer time for the Muslims.

Our day ended with a lovely meal again at the “Home Made” restaurant.  Then we went for a walk along the streets of Istanbul and looked around in a few shops.  The photo below is of the towers of the Haghia Sophia Mosque at night.

So our time here in Istanbul has come to an end!  Tomorrow morning we must be up at 3:45am to catch our flight to Helsinki.  So, Helsinki, beware!  Two South-Africans are coming your way!