Die Führung durch die Hagia Sophia war äußerst interessant und kurzweilig, schade daher dass uns unser Guide zu einer Teppichvorführung / Teppichverkauf und zu einem gemeinsamen Mittagessen mit der Gruppe in ein von ihm vorgeschlagenen Restaurant geführt hat bzw wollte...wir haben uns dann höflich verabschiedet und haben die Tour abgebrochen - den Basar haben wir einfach selbst erkundet obwohl es im Ticket inkludiert gewesen wäre.

This tour was easily booked through the get your guide website. We were met by our guide without having to look for them. The meeting point was clearly indicated with booking confirmation. Our guide was very knowledgeable and provided us with insight about the buildings not available in guide books. Highly recommend the tour.

It's very good to have someone to explain the history behind Hagia Sophia. Helpful to have a shorter wait in the massive queue to visit also! Definitely worth booking this rather than queuing yourself. The Blue Mosque was sadly under renovation so nothing to see and we did not bother to queue so the guide showed us around the Hippodrome instead and gave us the story about the monuments there. He also took us to an underground cistern (not Basilica!) which conveniently happened to be under this shop that sells Turkish carpets! To be fair, it was interesting to look at that and the guide also explained more about the Roman cisterns and the hippodrome again as there were good pictures and models there. Afterwards, we got a sales pitch on carpets but it is interesting too and we also got drinks. Now I understand a lot of groups get taken around shops as part of the tour, so you have to be able to resist the sales persuasion or be prepared to part with a rather large amount of money.