ITINERARY

• In the year 330, Constantine moved that Capital of the Roman Empire and it started here at this location. The Column of Constantine holds dark secrets from the past and the forum that surrounded it bared witness to the terror that took place here.
• We enter a graveyard of a Sultan and his advisors from the 19th Century. Here the tales of betrayal and assassination.
• We will make our way to the side of the Sphendone which is the vaulted remnants of the south side of the Hippodrome. Here we will visit the outside of an ancient prison which once housed wild animals for the circus. We will also discuss torture methods of these prisons and how disfiguration was a common practice during this time.
• The Hippodrome was the sporting and social center of Constantinople. It was the center of the Roman world for over 1000 years and was second only to the Cirucs Maximus. This was host to the famous chariot races from the grandest city of the medieval world. The Hippodrome was not only a place for chariot racing and its rival factions, but it held public executions and was the place to see the emperor face to face for the citizens of Constantinople. It was also the scene for one of the most horrific massacres in human history.
• This church was once called the Church of Saints Sergius and Baccus and later rename under Ottoman rule the Little Hagia Sophia Mosque. Before it was a church, the area was a palace home to Justinian before he became Emperor in the 6th century. During the 16th century a high-ranking eunuch was embezzling money and evading taxes. Here he was found and executed losing something very personal for him.
• We make our way to the back side of the Sphendone where we will hear about the "best seats in the house" and how a great deal of death was compiled here over many centuries. We will hear of a Coup De Tat that was successful in dethroning a powerful Emperor and the fate that him and his sons endured above these walls.
• Here we will talk about the Haunted Serpent Column from the spoils of war to the brutal execution of a Byzantine Emperor that took place here.
• We will briefly discuss the German Fountain and how the same location was the starting gates for the chariot races in the Hippodrome. In the 17th century Ottoman soldiers were returning home from war and they were not being paid. This led to a deadly event that happened at this location where a very old tree once stood.
• In the Ottoman Empire the law of Fratricide allowed these Sultans to kill their brothers and children who threatened their throne. Brothers killing brothers and now they haunt the Mausoleum where their bodies lay.
• In the early 17th Century coffee was banned for public drinking and the consequences were literally deadly.
• The main gate to the Imperial Palace is grand, but it was also meant to scare and intimidate all those who entered. The head gardener of the palace gardens also had a special race that was literally a matter of life and death.