To the Black Sea - Istanbul Page

An earlier start on the Byzantine Heritage tour. This started at a derelict church, after driving alone a road lined with wedding dress shops! The Church of St. George, known as the Chora Museum, is undergoing renovation but has amazing 11th-12thC mosaics on the ceiling & some frescoes as well.

Then, past a stretch of the city walls, Theodosius’ but improved later, to the premises of the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church, who has always been resident here. At the side of his digs is another St. George Church for the monastery, which has a lot of gold leaf &, unusually, seats. (Normally, the congregation stand).

Finally, we went up into the Old City for the cisterns. These were constructed in early Christian times to store fresh water during sieges, are enormous & the roof is held up by recycled Roman temple columns, some features of which are upside down & sideways on but this was a strictly utilitarian operation.