Hippodrome

Good views of the Blue Mosque. Plus various monuments that help you image life in Roman times. Not somewhere to linger long but well worth a visit.

It is definitely worth walking through this and seeing the statues while you are visiting other landmarks like the Blue Mosque or Hagia Sophia. The history is very cool, but the landmarks take about five minutes to see.

Formerly for horse races and chariots accommodating 100000 people. An obelisk taken from Egypt after conquering it, is placed in the middle, but shortened. Serpent pillar, made from the melted metal of the swords of the defeated Persians is found here, minus the 3 heads on top that were stolen.

Large open area completely destroyed over time with one obelisk remains. This area of ancient times was vary important for the great civilization that lived here. You can only imagine.

The Hippodrome, also known and the Sultanahamet Square, is a square which was previously a circus that was the sporting and social center of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Nowadays there's nothing to indicate its past glory, except for the Serpent Column, erected to celebrate the Greeks' victory over the Persians in the 5th century BC and moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi to the middle of the Hippodrome at the order of Emperor Constantine. At the top of the column there was a golden bowl supported by three serpent heads. The serpent heads were destroyed in the 1700. The other monument here is an Egyptian obelisk built during the reign of Thutmose III and brought to adorn the Hippodrome at the order of Theodosius the Great, in 390.