A student shared her trip to Istanbul experience with us!

2. Our ship stopped in port Karakoy

3. The port is separated from the city by Galata Bridge. Under the bridge there are a lot of small restaurants where you can taste a lot fish dishes. On the bridge you can see people who catch fish.

4. The European part of Istanbul is divided into two parts - the Sultan Ahmed and the new part . In S ultan Ahmed are situ a ted the oldest historical monuments of Istanbul. One of them is the Blue Mosque. Behind me you can see this Mosque. The Blue Mosque is the only mosque in Turkey that has six minarets.

5. Before the prayer , it is obligatory to wash your hands, face and feet . In the yard of every mosque there is a spring .

6. The Blue M osque is named so because it ha d 260 blue windows , made of V enice glass . A t the moment , the windows are made of ordinary glass.

8. On the first day I visited a u nique orthodox church , Yha Sofhia , whic h is at the same time a Muslim mosque . This church was built by the Teodose Emper o r . Turks strengthened the church and built 4 minarets

9. In the church yard there are remnant s of the old Greek church . In the picture you can see one column.

10. At the entrance there are the sheep that still remained from the old Greek church and they symbolize that we are the sheep of Jesus .

11. Inside the church there are a few square icons that the Turks had not destroyed. One of them is in front of you . On t he icon is drawn in mosaic Saint Helena - mother of Constantine .

12. On the walls of the church are draw in mosaic 4 angels . S ometime s their face s w ere closed with a metal. At t he moment their face s are open ed.

13. Inside of the church was very dark. To make the room light , the T urks put the lamps with oil.

14. And in the church there are small barrels with oil .

15. On the church walls there are 9 medals on which is written ” Allah is with us . ”

16. Also, in the region Sultan Ahmed there is on e Roman Hippodrome there found Egyptian obelisk. In the world exist only 4 of th e se obelisks and one is in Paris.

17. Across the street from the church of Saint Sofia is found the Basilique Cistern . In Roman times there were reservoirs of water and they were filled all with water. The Cistern has 300 columns. In the Roman times , the water in Cistern was kept for 3 years . Sometimes in Istanbul there were more reservoirs of water . But now rest only th e s e . Inside were built the bridges to be visited by people

18. O ne of the columns was carved the Medusa Gargon H ead . The Greek hero Perseus cut off Medusa's head

19. If y ou visit I sta n bul , I recommend you to visit the Topkapy Palace. It is the old residence of the Turkish sultan. The palace was built by Sultan Ahmed . He lived there with his wife Roxalana who was stolen by a Ukraine Turkish Jassarys . I didn’t have the occasion to visit the palace.