These pictures are from yesterday, from the Sultanahmet area of Istanbul. There are two from inside the Hagia Sophia, which was originally a Byzantine church but was then converted into a mosque. There is one pic from the Sultanahmet fountain that's by the 2nd century AD Roman hippodrome. The hippodrome doesn't exist anymore but three structures that were in its spina (the central portion around which the charioteers used to race) still stand: an Egyptian obelisk most likely taken from Karkan (?), at the tomb of Ramses II; a spiral column that used to be topped with the golden heads of 3 snakes (those have disappeared and our guide vaguely implicated a drunken Polish guy with the malfeasance, but he wouldn't name names); and the Magnetic Column, which is sometimes called the Column of Constantine or the Constantinian Column. It used to be covered in bronze, but over the years that layer was taken off. Go figure. Anyway, the hippodrome, which used to seat 100,000, is no longer there, but there is a fountain there now and I shot a picture of a covered woman washing off her little boy there. Very cute. And now I've talked so much about the hippodrome that I don't remember the last picture. I feel confident you'll figure it out, however.
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