Istanbul
Βυζάντιον / Κωνσταντινούπολη / εἰς τὴν Πόλιν
Thousands of years of history, a mixture of Greek, Roman, Ottoman, Western and Eastern cultures, and marvelous places, natural and man-made.
I hope to return here someday for a longer stay.
(I can now also claim to have officially been to Asia)
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Βόσπορος. The strait dividing Istanbul in half, with Europe on the Western and Asia on the Eastern side.
Its name, βοῦς (ox) + πόρος (passage) (or, you could say, “ox ford”), comes from the myth where Io, lover of Zeus, crosses the strait after being turned into a cow and forced to wander the earth.
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One of the many amazing opportunities in this trip was the honor of visiting a mosque (or several) for the first time. The ambience, especially with the singing at prayer times, is truly fantastic and takes you to another realm. I was particularly glad and pleasantly surprised to see that there were always several people praying inside, not matter the time of day.
Here, the awesome interior of Süleymaniye Camii.
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The mortal struggle between cellphone cameras and low-light environments. But the islands of Istanbul at night are too surreal and beautiful to leave this one out.
I believe this one is Heybeliada.