So, who, exactly, decided Suleiman was magnificent? Was it his mother? His wife? She had good reason to think well of him. Maybe one of his concubines? We know he had at least three. Who was this guy? I got interested in Suleiman because of the mosque named for him. Suleiman wanted to turn Constantinople into the jewel of the Ottoman Empire, and to that end he had Mimar Sinan, one of the greatest architects of all time, design a resplendent mosque on a hill overlooking the Golden Horn. You can see this mosque quite clearly from the Beyoğlu side of the Galata Bridge, and it looked pretty, well, magnificent. And big! I decided this was to be my destination for the morning, and while I had a general idea of how to get there, I
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