"There are many Turkish, American and European schools in Constantinople, which are really outstanding. None of those, though, can compete with the glory of The Great School of the Nation. Whoever graduates this school has his soul marked to the end of his days".

In the awful morning of the 29th of May 1453, Hagia Sophia was crowded with women, children and elder people, who were watching their life's last service. When the Ottomans arrived shouting outside the church the heavy door was bolted. At first they tried to open it by clanking their swords on it and pushing it with their bodies, but it was strongly resisting. Then they were rushing and striking it with heavy wooden beams.

According to the tradition, on May 29th 1453, a monk of Baloukli Abbey in Constantinople was frying fish beside the holy water gushing at the foundation of the monastery, when someone informed him that the city was conquered. "Only if the fish jump out of the frying pan and get into the Holy Water shall I believe you", the monk answered. He hadn't finished his word when the half-fried fish jumped into the water. That is how the Zoodohou Pigi's monastery took the name Baloukli, coming from the Turkish word "balik", which means fish.

"I've learned to distinguish the Yunan (Greeks) in all the years I travel this route. Worshipers from Yunnanistan (Greece) never stop visiting Halki Theological School. They come all year round", said an old man, sitting beside us on the boat, on our way to Halki.

Once the lights are switched on, Constantinople looks like something out of a fairytale. Its position between sea and land, its mosques and churches, the densely populated neighborhoods, the bazaars and expressive people, everything seems beautiful and exotic.

In modern Istanbul, skyscrapers keep popping up; however, so do the minarets of the mosques. In the streets one can see more women with Islamic dressing walking, making the conservative turn of society obvious enough. Western tourists, being much less than they used to be, are replaced by visitors from Arab countries. Mosques are lighted in a more sophisticated and massive way, while this year’s Ramadan was celebrated in a bigger glory than the past ones. New layers of society are coming to the surface and are slowly switching the city’s nature. Its beauty, though, remains remarkable.

 The soldiers who defended Constantinople just before the Fall were hopelessly few, because the city's population was small and many young men betook to monasteries in order to avoid the recruitment. When Constantine Palaeologus asked to know about the last general recruitment’s results before the final confrontation with the Ottomans, his close partner Frantzis told him that only 4,937 out of 30,000 men were finally conscripted because the rest of them weren't able to carry arms. The king then sighed and asked him to keep the number secret.

We arrived at the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae on Easter Eve, right before the beginning of the Mass and our glance fell on the marble plate, where the Akathyst Hymn, a hymn of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, was engraved.

The Greeks remaining in Constantinople are few but there are plenty of Greek Orthodox churches. Even if all of the Orthodox population went to church every day, some of them would be empty. But that does not stop the Greeks from finding ways to liven up the churches and prevent them becoming decorated. Every Good Friday they worship the Seven Epitaphs , ensuring that all processions have a small number of attendees. Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras used to say: "We the Greeks of Constantinople are few, but countless".

Zografeion Greek High School, which is in the historical district of Peran, was built in 1893. It was mainly funded by the benefactor Christakis Zografos and the lead architect was Pericles Photiades. Today it has only 49 students, many of whom live far from the school and even have a boat ride in front of them in order to get there. They uncomplainingly wake up very early in the morning, under hard weather conditions and cross long distances, not only to obtain Greek education but also to meet with other Greeks and keep their school and their nation alive.

Eighty six years have passed since the Greek daily newspaper "Evening Post" was first released in Constantinople. Along with the Turkish Cumhuriyet, they are both Turkey's oldest newspapers. The Evening Post used to sell 30,000 papers, which was more than the Turkish newspapers used to sell, as the Greeks were numerous and they used to read a lot, due to their high educational level. Nowadays it sells 600 papers, 90% of which are being sold in Constantinople and the rest of them in Greece. As the number of the Greek-speaking families in Constantinople is equal to the Evening Post's circulation, this newspaper could be easily included in the Guinness Book, since it's being read by the 99,9% of its potential readers.