Somewhere between Turkey and Greece

Useful tip: Listen to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1651Wy3wO4&feature=relmfu during reading.

He was waiting for me at Eminönü, near Bosporus. We were decided to break stereotypes: a Turkish guy and a Greek girl visiting together the largest city of Turkey, Istanbul.

The sky was grey. I raised my eyes. I have never understood why the eagles fly around the minarets of the mosques. I was calling the city Constantinople to tease him. He replied by singing “It’s Istanbul, not Constantinople. We have already started to laugh.

First stop: Hagia Sofia. I probably let my exclamation to be heard as we entered. Hagia Sofia is an architectural miracle, which proves what a man can do. It used to be a Orthodox Church, dedicated to god’s wisdom, built in 363. As we were observing the inside decorations and mosaics, I was telling him all the Greek legends around Hagia Sofia, stories about the day of the fall of the city in 1453 and the asleep last king of Byzantine Empire. He was telling me all the stories about the tunnels underneath the building which it is said that connect the temple with the palace. We crossed the road to visit an equivalent architectural miracle, Blue Mosque, located opposite Hagia Sofia. In one road, Europe was holding hands with East, two religions have been met, different nationalities have won the battle with time.
He told me he would show me Istanbul through his eyes. We run to Basilica cisterns, the sinked palace. We walked around, seduced by the reflection of the lights in the water. There are some places when you think that time has stopped. Right after, we found ourselves at Kapali Çarsi, the big covered market. He taught me how to deal with sellers to hit the best price. We smelt the spices and bought tea from the Egyptian Market. We saw the sunset near Bosporus. It has started raining.
A city which has seen Greeks and Turks living together or fighting each other, it was seeing us re-discovering history through its roads, names and foods.