Harold had fought (and lost) with his half-brother, Olaf (later St. Olaf...the first "Christian" saint of Norway) at the battle of Stiklested in 1030. He was then 15. He fled to the east...travelled down through the Viking settlement at Kiev (the beginning of Russia) and went to Constantinople. Where, as part of the mercenary Varangian troops, he waged war for the emperor in parts of Greece, Sicily and probably Jerusalem. And where he enriched himself with loot from captured towns and kingdoms.
But he fell out with the emperor (having become too involved in politics)...and in 1042 escaped from the city. He did this by taking two of his "long boats" (Viking ships) and sailing over the great iron chain that separated the Golden Horn from the Bosphorus. The chain was hung over the entry to this estuary to prevent pirates or invading navies from getting close to the harbor walls of the city.
This mural shows how the chain was hung.
And the Archeological Museum in the city has part of what it claims is the chain that hung until the fall of the city in 1453 to Mehmet, the Turkish conqueror.
At any rate the sagas tell how Harold ran his long ships up to the chain and ordered his men to run "with their sacks" to the back of the ship causing it to get half way over. When the ship became stuck, he ordered them to run forward and, in so doing, they slipped free over the other side.
Harold sailed up the Bosphorus, back up the Dnieper River to Kiev, then back to Norway where he used his wealth to become King of Norway...and, then, in 1066 to die at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in an attempt to obtain control of England. (His rival was killed the next day by the Norman William the Conqueror...who, of course, was also a Nordman, that is, a ruler of Viking heritage).
At any rate, being at places like Hagia Sophia, reminded me that Harold must have been there too at some point and while his life was full of so much more adventure than mine, he was probably even more impressed by this city.
Location:Byzantium
