Constantinople, Byzantium, Istanbul... the city of many names, the city of Empires, the city where Worlds meet. The day went by as a dream. We took an early train to get into town and nearly ran up the hill to admire one of the world's oldest treasures. And there she was, Hagia Sophia. Her shape inspired many mosques in town but was foreign to me, somehow magic. Like many, I made the mistake of thinking that whatever is Muslim is Arab, I was wrong. Here the buildings are unique and the people are Turkish, probably closer to the Europeans than to the North African population. The Hagia Sophia museum is no longer a true place of worship. I do not wish to turn this blog into a history journal but the Christian cathedral had been turned into a mosque, the beautiful golden mosaics hidden and replace by walls of stuck. The opposite story of what happened in Andalusia after the Spanish regained this territory. We wondered around the building admired the architecture, the splendid dome, the golden walls (thanks to renovation works some mosaics were uncovered)... Our way was lite by dozens of chandeliers bringing light and warmth to the place. A flying carpet would have hardly surprised us in such a mystical place!
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