It was a jam packed day of sightseeing for us, but since we managed to play our cards right we were able to knock out three biggies in the Sultanahmet district. Before all of this sightseeing could begin, we needed some nourishment and grabbed a quick bite to eat at Caferaga Medresesi. This cute little place is in the middle of the block, down an alley, tucked in to a  cute courtyard. The courtyard doubles as an artist’s retreat and a cafe, the food was delicious and reasonably priced in what is otherwise a very touristy area.

Hagia Sophia:

The line to get in to the Hagia Sophia is nothing short of daunting, but we seemed to time it just right and caught it when it was only halfway across the plaza. It took us about 15 minutes to get in and we quickly grabbed an audio guide (we love the audio guide, otherwise we end up wandering around with no clue as to what we are seeing).

The Hagia Sophia was once a cathedral and then a mosque, but is now a museum for all to visit. Stained glass fills all of the windows and a variety of mosaics have been uncovered.

The museum has two floors for you to explore and you really get a feeling for its size from the balcony overlooking everyone.

Blue Mosque:

This is a working mosque, so we had to carefully time our visit so as to not interfere with prayer time. Once at the visitor’s entrance (non muslims must use this one) I placed a scarf over my head, took off my shoes, and proceeded in to the mosque. There is a small area near at the back of the mosque where visitors can view the over 20,000 iznik style tiles which adorn the interior.

These tiles are why the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is more commonly referred to as the Blue Mosque. For us this visit took no more than 15 minutes.

Basilica Cistern:

The Cistern is entered across the street from the yellow police station. After waiting in line for just a few minutes, we purchased our ticket and headed underground. This particular Cistern is one of the largest and hundreds of columns support the ceiling.  A platform allows visitors to walk through the columns and peer down at the fish swimming underfoot.

While we luckily didn’t find ourselves in any lines that were too long, the three sites we visited took us under three hours. If you have only a half day to visit, you could certainly see all of these if you time it right. (Apparently the Museum Pass allows you to skip the queue at Hagia Sophia, but this is not accepted at the Cisterns, so we passed on purchasing it).