Sultanahmet Square: The Heart of Istanbul (Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque. Topkapi Palace & Hippodrome)

Right, Erol, now we're here in the Sultanahmet Square, the heart of Istanbul, right? 100% and always one of my favorite places in Istanbul because really it's the most dynamic, it's the most vibrant, always full of people from all different backgrounds. Indeed, indeed. I mean, the place to be when you think, consider we have the Hagia Sophia Mosque just behind us, Sultanahmet, the famous blue mosque, and then of course we have the Topkapi Palace just on the left-hand side, the home of Ottoman sultans, right? Amazing, yeah. Now we are in this most magnificent spot in Istanbul, heart and soul of the city in Sultanahmet Square. So, these historical landmarks all around us, which you know them as well as I do, but perhaps you want to give the actual description to the audience watching and a little history perhaps. Yeah, sure. I mean, really this, like Tolga said earlier, this really is the heart and center and what I love about this place is because, like you said, some of its most important landmarks are just a stone's throw away and this place is always, you know, it's always hustling and bustling. There are incredible cafes, rooftop cafes to watch all of the views from any terrace around here. They're all beautiful, you know, they all serve quality food and, you know, it's like you're standing right in such a historical, just a historical place because at one side you have the Sultanahmet Mosque, which was built by the preeminent architect and engineer during Ottoman times, Mimar Sinan, and this is considered like his premier work. And right across from it, you have Hagia Sophia, which was the very energetic center of this entire city and was originally a pagan house of worship and now is still functioning as a house of worship. That's beautiful to see. But yeah, they have stones and marble brought in from many different empires, from so many other pantheons and other ancient structures. This place was built using those pieces. Also, like you were just talking about Topkapi Palace, which is right over there, which, as you know, that is the key palace for the Ottomans, like that was their home for the longest. And it really is, it really is luxurious and opulent and beautiful. But did you also know that they had a thousand chefs working there? No way. Every day cooking food for a minimum 10,000 people. Wow. 1,000 chefs. Yeah. So the Ottomans really took their cuisine seriously. I can tell. Yeah. As you know. Indeed. Wow. That's a lot of information. So thank you, Erol. Great. It's a beautiful place. Yeah.