A
full-day sightseeing tour rewarding the Byzantine monuments: the
Land and Sea Walls, constructed in the late second century; the
Palace Porphyrogenitus (born into purple); the Chora Monastery
containing examples of well-preserved frescos and mosaics; the
Church of Holy Wisdom-Hagia Sophia enjoying a majestic dome and
the traces of two mighty empires; the Sergius and Bachhus Church,
dedicated to St. Sergius & Bachhus by Justinian and Theodora;
the Basilica Cistern, a well preserved underground reservoir originally
built in the 3rd century; and the Roman Hippodrome. Lunch at a
restaurant housed in an old Ottoman house.
