We decided to spend our first day at the Hagia Sophia, a beautiful jumbled building consisting of domed towers and tall turrets pointing to the sky. I often thought of them as missiles but maybe I’d been playing too many computer games. It was nearby and we’d read that it attracts large queues. Outside, a large paved square with benches separated the church from the road alongside a large fountain which was lit up at night. We managed to walk straight in past the touts posing as guides offering tours and through the large oak double doors. In the marble centre was a giant urn where we posed for photographs and a private chapel with gated iron windows. One face of the church was closed was restoration but the rest was stunning with its differing colours and paintings depicting different religions over the ages. I particularly liked the staircase to a podium with its own spire portraying the ascension to the heavens. The view upstairs was brilliant as light was pouring in through the arches. Through one window you could see the nearby blue mosque, our next destination. In the gardens, there was an archaeological museum dating the age of various pillars and tombs.
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