I have always thought of myself as a wildlife and nature photographer. We travel quite a bit so I do have quite a bit of that in my portfolio from all over the world. However, as my portfolio grows, apparently so do I and I find that architecture is quite appealing to me as well.

Most recently our travels led us to Istanbul and Greece. Our first international travel since COVID. To be really honest I found it a bit nerve racking. I use to be a pro at this, what happened?

Anyways, here are a few images from both Istanbul and Greece. Out of all of the images I took, these fascinating architecture images are my favorites.

There are two very famous mosques in Istanbul. Likely most have heard or seen pictures of the Blue Mosque. The other is the Hagia Sophia Mosque. Originally built in 532-537 as a Christian church, since then, it has been a museum and very recently it has become a mosque. The Hagia Sophia at night against the cobalt blue night sky topped the Blue Mosque hands down.

Another of my favorite architectural feats in Istanbul was the Basilica Cistern that lies 213 feet beneath the city itself and is the largest cistern in Istanbul. It was abandoned and forgotten until someone noticed that there were homes that had fresh water being drawn from a hole in their basement floor, lowering buckets into the deep hole, occasionally bring us a fish. The ceiling is supported by 336 marble columns and was built on the backs of 100s of slaves, many who lost their lives in the construction. Throughout the cistern there are several modern art pieces now. A few of them are of gaunt looking men, almost walking dead. I couldn’t find an explanation, but my thoughts were that is that they pay homage to many slaves force to carve out this cavernous hall.

Meteora was absolutely stunning as far as landscapes go. Massive sandstone pillars, some standing 1000 feet tall from the valley floor. So high the tops are often up in the clouds. Add to that beauty are the monasteries built on top of those pinnacles. There is no connection to a main landmass, the pinnacles stand alone. So imagine hauling all of those building materials up, bucket by bucket. Probably had something as large is platforms that could be lifted on ropes. Notice the 2 large squares front and center on the buildings, this is the loading dock. Today they have small motorized carts that travel a cable from the mainland to the monastery. Truly an a feat of architecture. Originally there were 24 monasteries, today there are 6 that are still active.