Ibn Battuta:  Constantinople

August, 1332:

After three weeks of travel, our group has finally reached the great city of Constantinople.  Upon entering the Palace of the imperial family, I was greeted by the luxury and expenditure evident in all royal families.  Because I have escorted King Andronicus III’s daughter here from the Mongol city of Mahtuli, the king had made me his guest of honor.  Although he is not a Muslim, his hospitality towards me is much like what I have experienced from my other Muslim brothers.  He gave me a robe of honor and asked me to describe the Christian shrines I had seen in Palestine.  I gladly did, and he was greatly impressed with my knowledge and experiences as a traveler.  As I had heard many great things about the city, I expressed my great curiosity to explore as much of the city as I could to the emperor, and he was kind enough to appoint to me a guide.  He had me escorted to the stables, and to my astonishment, it was not just a guide, but also a whole parade with the fanfare of trumpets and drums!  We mounted our horses and were off.

  We first visited the great church of Haghia Sophia I had heard so much about.  From the outside, the building was beautiful.  The ornate architecture was astonishing, as well as the immense atop the structure.  I toured the beautiful grounds of the building, but upon going inside, I was informed that I must kneel to the cross before entering.  Of course, being a Muslim, I refused to undertake this gesture, and I was not allowed entrance.  Judging from the outside, the interior must have been beautiful, but just as mosques have their own customs that must be followed, so do churches, and I did not push the issue. 

            Afterwards, we attended a chariot race at the Hippodrome.  However, the architecture and design of the building was far more interesting than the fanfare of the races.  Such a large arena I have never seen before.  It’s immense size and shape amazed me.  Soon I became bored with the uncultured races, and we moved on. 

            The wonderful tour guide then took me, at the request of the king, to the city walls Andronicus III had erected.  One of the King’s proudest accomplishments, the walls were immense in size and length.  The walls were preceded by a deep moat, followed by a smaller wall and then the main wall.  Guard towers were situated every so often on the main wall and used heavy weaponry to knock back attackers.  A unique defense used by the towers were long tubes, out of which a highly flammable liquid was ejected.  When a flame was held to the end of the tube, the liquid would ignite, and a huge flame would spray out.  They called this “Greek Fire” and kept the ingredients to the liquid a tight secret.  I thought that it was an ingenious weapon, and all in all the walls made an impenetrable defense. 

            After this, I wished to see their markets and commerce center, so our parade marched across the Galata Bridge to the Genoese colony of Galata.  The markets there were full of a vast array of goods from all ends of the world.  Goods from Europe, India, Alexandria, and the Orient were all present and for sale. All this variety impressed me to no end, and we continued on.  After touring the many different markets and bazaars, we arrived at the extremely tall Galata guard tower.  From the top level, the whole city can be seen, including the Strait of Bosphorus. 

            Our last stop was what they called the Princes’ Isles.  The views were beautiful, but the best part were the monasteries.  Upon talking to several of the monks, I found that we were kindred spirits in that we both had a thirst for knowledge.  We debated on and on about religion, morality, and philosophy, and I found the monks very intellectually stimulating. 

            After this long trip about the city, we paraded back to the palace for the nightly meal.  To my astonishment, the King had a feast prepared in my honor, and we began.  An endless assortment of different types of meat, pastry, and drink were present.  The King, knowing that I did not drink alcohol, presented me with a drink of fermented beets and apples, which I found extremely flavorsome.  The chef was very artistic in his presentations of the foods, with such delicacies as pastries containing roasted birds or fruits preserved in honey and sugar. 

            All in all, I found Constantinople a very stimulating place.  The King was very hospitable towards me, which impressed me greatly.  The people, in general, were also more educated than in other cities I had visited, which also impressed me and appealed to my intellectual side. Constantinople was truly what it was made out to be, and I was filled with a feeling of wonder.