Hippodrome: Racetracks and Entertainment Square of the Greco-Roman Istanbul

Hippodrome Serpent Column

No, I am not referencing the NASCAR, which is part of the fast car racing culture that is popular all around the present day US and other international venues. But horse and horse-drawn chariot racing, princes circumcision ceremonies and all kinds of entertainment including circus acts were a regular feature of Constantinople the capital of the Byzantine Empire before the ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire, which Sultans never paid as much attention to the activities compared to their predecessors.

The city ‘stadium’ where all these activities were held was the Hippodrome, which outlines and some of the tracts and other buildings and monuments of that era still survive till date and another exciting place to visit within the vicinity of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

The Hippodrome which was initially a small town square for entertainment and horse racing got subsequently expanded as the city of Byzantium (ancient Istanbul) was expanded by various Emperors starting from Emperor Septimus Severus in AD 203. At its largest size, the spectator stands was said to hold up to 100,000 people.

The Emperor and his court

It is evident that at its glory the Hippodrome was filled with various statues of both animals and famous horse riders and prominent rulers. One end of it has a special pathway that leads up to the palace where the Emperor and his family and close officials make their way into the arena leading up to his ‘box’ area from where they watched the entertainment. There is a depiction of the Emperor and his court watching the activities carved at the base of the Obelisk in the picture on this page. And at the far end, to the corner where row houses that are exactly they way they existed, which by today’s standard would appear to be teeny tiny row of apartments.

The Serpent and the Obelisk

Still visible today are some chariot tracks along the sides of the oblong flank of the arena and gigantic obelisk and other monuments that were brought over from other civilizations in the ancient world, including a Serpent Column, which has lost the heads of the three intertwined Serpents.

The obelisk known as the Obelisk of Tuthmosis III was said to have been installed in AD 390 when Emperor Theodosius the Great brought it from the Temple of Karnak in Luxur Egypt during the reign of Tuthmosis III around 1490 BC and installed it within the hippodrome.

Hippodrome Row Apartments

It was awesome to stand in the shadow of an Obelisk that has survived for almost 3, 500 years and looking very well preserved in the open elements. The remarkable paradox was that in its glory and for the purpose the Hippodrome was established was a place of gathering of multitudes of people and entertainment, and several centuries later, even in its faded glory and ruination, it is still a place that draws perhaps even more crowd now and still full of entertainment.

It is often common to be approached on a free guided tour of the hippodrome by natives who speak your language, but the catch is that they often want you to lure you to the nearby Turkish rug stores nearby for tea and hopeful purchase from the stores, which pays them commission.

Istanbul City Orientation by Foot

Byzantine marker near Basilica Cistern

Emerging from the Basilica Cistern several blocks away from the entrance, I thought it would make sense to tour around the city on foot as far as I could before making specific plans for longer visits to some of the more interesting historical places. By design and by age, old Istanbul, the Sultanahmet, is so pedestrian friendly and chockfull of prominent sites to see that you would miss a lot of historic sites and the vibe of the city if you just hopped around on buses and taxis. It was also comforting that there is an efficient Tram system that traverses the city and at 2 TL (Turkish Lira) token, you can hop on a Tram back to your hotel or anywhere else if you  get tired of walking.

Breakfast before the stroll

In the immediate vicinity of my hotel and the Basilica Cistern was the Ayo (Hagia) Sophia, which is now a museum and across from it was the Sultanahmet mosque, famously known as the Blue mosque. Then up behind Ayo Sophia was the Topkapi Palace, the home of the Sultans that ruled the famed Ottoman Empire, and nearby were magnificently and intricately colored marbled burial crypts of various deceased Sultans and their families under ornate and tastefully furnished domed edifices.

On the other side of the Blue mosque was the Hippodrome depicting the ancient Greek sports arena decorated with various monuments from the ancient Romans and ancient Egyptians.

On my stroll route

As I gazed around in wonderment, I came by the massive and extensive Topkapi Palace walls, which stretched along the shores of the southern end of the Bosphorous and the Sea of Marmara, so I crossed the street and followed the seashore for a leisurely walk, as ships sailed past me and buildings on the continental Asian side of the city of Istanbul gleamed in the morning sun. By the time I rounded the circumference of the Topkapi palace wall, I had passed the Istanbul Gar at the Sirkeci Railway Station (a once famous stop for the Orient Express) I had reached Eminonu, the miniport at the base of the exciting Galata Bridge, from where charter and passenger boats and vessels cruise the Bosphorous towards the Black sea 19 miles north or a few miles south through the sea of Marmara into the Mediterranean sea.

At that point I crossed a pedestrian bridge to head back to the hotel through a slightly different route but was surprised to come upon Kennedy Cadessi (Kennedy Street) at the bottom of the foot bridge. Obviously the street was named for the former US President John Kennedy. Weaving my way back in the general direction of my hotel, I came upon the Grand Bazaar, and the Egyptian spice market. Virtually every block has a story to tell going by prominent and  unique features of various architectural marvels, mosques, minarets, ancient churches (like Church of St. Irene), Turkish baths mixed with recognizable western institutions, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and a friendly crowd of people going about their business, beaming with smiles and beseeching you to step into their stores for some tea and bargains or into their restaurants for some delicious Turkish cuisine.

By the time I got back to the hotel, I had a longer list of more places to visit for extended tour.

Playing Sultan in the Basilica Cistern

View of the Cistern as I descended the stairs into the chamber

As the Basilica Cistern or Yerebatan Sarnici (Sunken Cistern) is just two houses away from my hotel, it was the first place to see the next morning after breakfast. The entrance to the Cistern or Sarnici as the locals call it is a non-descript building no more than a large store front with a small wall plaque showing the name and the period the cistern was established. As I had no prior knowledge of this wonder, I could not believe my eyes as I descended a flight of steps to the cavernous bowels of the cistern. It was completely a different subterranean world.

It is reputed to be the largest of many ancient cisterns that lie underneath the city of Istanbul. In fact it measures 453 feet by 212 feet with an area of 105,000 square miles and has the capacity for holding 2,800,000 cubic feet of water. Indeed it was the source of water for the palace of then Constantinople and the surrounding area within the historical old city, as it was just a few feet away from Hagia Sophia and other historical centers of power.

One of the upside down Medusa heads

This cavernous chamber is held in place by lots of sturdy marble and granite columns, 336 all together that are strategically arranged in 12 rows of 28 columns that stand 30 feet high. The top end of each column has almost a different stylistic design and engraved decoration in the Corinthian or Ionic styles with some depicting other expressions. Two unique columns at the far end of the cistern unlike the rest of the columns had the heads of Medusa engraved at the base, basically at a human knee level. I had to squat down by Medusa to have my picture taken at the same level as she was with both our heads in opposite directions.

The engraved images were mesmerizing especially given the context of the eerie chamber that was somewhat dark well of pillars jutting from a vast pool of water and towering 30 feet high with occasional water droplets baptizing you as you wander around on raised platform above the water so you don’t have to swim through the huge space. 

Cave-like chamber

It was noted that the Cistern has had several restorations to maintain its stability, repair cracked columns and evacuate mud build-up especially as houses are now built on top of it with intense daily human activity putting its pressure on the edifice. In fact, if not observant, you would not realize there is such a gigantic space below your feet as you walk the pavement or dine in restaurants or sleep in hotels that are all at normal street level on Yerebatan and other adjourning streets including the tram rail line. By the time you end the tour and emerge at the exit, you suddenly realize you had traveled almost ten blocks away from where you went in.

The Sultan issuing Edicts

But before I made that exit, I stopped over by the north east end of it where some creative Turkish business savvy young folk offer costumed photo shoots for a fee. They have an assemblage of different Sultanate court attires, from the robes of the Sultan to those of the Queens and other palace officials. They come in several colors with palatial grandeur, and head wears, prayer beads and other accoutrement to match. I made a selection of some gold robes with black trims and golden head gear with burgundy band with all the other paraphernalia of the office of the Sultan and sat on a saffron throne to take some commanding pictures decreeing edicts to my subjects. I may not have lived in that era but at that moment, I was catapulted back several centuries in every way possible. Some British ladies watching me pose openly expressed their admiration.

For the movie buff, the Cistern was the location for the 1963 James Bond movie, ‘From Russia with Love’.

Arriving the heart of Old Town Istanbul: Sultanahmet

My Colorful Han Hotel Room

With the visa stamp firmly pressed on my passport, I meandered through the airport straight to the Tram platform that runs all the way to the center of the old city of Istanbul, where I dropped off to walk the one block jaunt to Han Hotel on 33 Yerebatan Cadesi (street), which will be my home in Istanbul for a week and some change.

Ham Hotel is a cross between a quaint and a boutique hotel that clearly caters to tourists in the busy heart of old Istanbul. It has a total of 10 rooms. Accentuating its quaintness is the bold bright hues that the interior of the hotel is painted in. The jarring but pleasant colors extend to the drapery, the beddings and even the designed wallpaper covering some areas of the rooms.

The hotel is  a 2 to 3 minute walk to Basilica Cistern, which the locals referred to as Yerebatan Sarayi (Sunken palace) or Yerebatan Sarnici (Underground water storage facility built by the Romans in 6^th century, during the reign of Justinian, the Byzantine Emperor; the Suleiman mosque popularly known as the Blue Most and a former church now a museum called Hagia Sophia, pronounced Aya Sophia by locals (St. Sophia) built in a relatively short time in the 5^th century. Stepping outside the balcony to the room, the minarets of domes of these historical buildings are all visible and form part of the immediate neighborhood.

The hotel next door to Han Hotel

Still within easy walking distance under 10 minutes were such premium historic attractions like the Topkapi palace, home of the Sultans, which was also where the Greek Byzantine first built their city on settling in the area, the Hippodrome, The Grand Bazaar, the Egyptian Bazaar and numerous Turkish baths that dot all over the city. I will talk about some of these individual places and my pleasant experiences there later.

It was very advantageous to stay in Hotel Han though the immediate challenge was the smallness of the room and the narrowness of the bed. Perhaps the age and structure of the building make it impossible to install an elevator so there is no choice to climbing back and forth a narrow spiral stairs to my third floor room.

The staff were however extremely helpful, friendly and great cooks. Every meal was made fresh just for you. It never seemed like mass cooking to serve anyone that walks in. The care in preparing each meal made it seemed like you are a cherished guest in a private home.