DAY 1: FRIDAY 21/4/2000

Arrived in Istanbul 10:50 am. 22 hours flying time from Melbourne. Collected by our guide Hakan and taken by coach to our hotel in the Taxim area. After changing our money returned to the old city to visit the Basilica Cistern, the largest surviving Byzantine cistern in Istanbul constructed by Justinian the Great ( 527-565 ). Today water still drips through the ceiling.

At the southern end of the Hippodrome there is a Rough Stone Obelisk. The bronze plates were removed in the 4th century and the team of 4 horses cast in bronze now sit a top the main door to St. Mark's  Church in Venice.

Next we visited the Blue Mosque so called after the Iznik tiles which line the walls. Four massive pillars hold the dome and it was built between 1606 and 1616. The semi domes and domes are painted in graceful arabesques.

After lunch we visited Topkapi Palace which is a series of pavilions, kitchens, barracks ,audience chambers ,kiosks and sleeping quarters around a central enclosure much like a fortified camp. The kithchens house exhibitions of Chinese porcelain. There are displays of Imperial Robes and the Treasury houses the famous Spoon makers diamond, the golden dagger and relics of Mohommed and Moses. Finally we visited the SPICE BAZAAR famous for its many spice shops. It was built in the 1660's.