In 2014 we visited Istanbul (formerly Byzantium, formerly Constantinople), Izmir and Ephesus.Turkey is an amazingly colorful, interesting place which makes our concept of old look silly.. Ayasophya (Hagia Sophia) is an ancient orthodox cathedral, later Roman Catholic, later still a mosque, that stood as the world's largest cathedral for a thousand years until it was surpassed by the Cathedral in Sevilla, Spain, in 1520AD!