I headed 1,700 km East, on the Silk Road from Venice to reach the great city of Constantinople. It took me approximately a month to make this trip. When I first entered the empire, I proved to them that I was a Christian, and they immediately accepted me. In addition, they also liked the fact that I was from Venice. The people told me about the Hagia Sophia, which I surprisingly did not know about as a Christian. They informed me that it was built under Justinian “the Great,” as they said, about 500 years ago. It was a major symbol of Christianity in the Byzantine Empire, and it was conveniently located close to where I was headed in Constantinople. I entered Constantinople looking to trade for these commodities; oil, wine, salt, fish, meat, vegetables, other
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