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Chora church
Imagine a city that was a centre of the Christian Orthodox faith for 1000 years, which then became a centre of the Islamic Caliphate for 400 years. Sultan Selim I conquered Mamluk Egypt in 1517 and claimed a title of the Caliph. Then, try to imagine a Christian Orthodox church with some of the finest late Byzantine mosaics and frescoes that remained untouched by the Ottomans despite the fact that it became ...
It's almost impossible to talk about Byzantine churches in Istanbul. After the conquest of Constantinople 571 years ago, Ottomans converted almost all Christian Orthodox religious temples into mosques. The only Byzantine church that still retains its original function is the Panagia Mouchliotissa church in Fener. I went to see this church, unfortunately it was closed. But I'm not too bothered because, when ...
I went to Istanbul after nearly 5 years. It was the most obvious destination that I could choose after a hiatus in my travel. I spent 5 weeks in Turkey in 2019, Istanbul was my first stop at that time. Afterwards, I went to Bursa, Izmir, Kusadasi, Aydin, Antalya, Konya and Ankara. I'm planning to see the eastern part of Turkey in the near future but, before that, I wanted to continue exploring the ...
