
Istanbul
Largest city and principal seaport of Türkiye. It was the capital of both the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
The old walled city of Istanbul stands on a triangular peninsula between Europe and Asia. Sometimes as a bridge, sometimes as a barrier, Istanbul for more than 2,500 years has stood between conflicting surges of religion, culture, and imperial power. For most of those years it was one of the most coveted cities in the world.
City site
The original peninsular city has seven hills, requisite for Constantine’s “New Rome.” Six are crests of a long ridge above the Golden Horn; the other is a solitary eminence in the southwest corner. Around their slopes are ranged many of the mosques and other historic landmarks that were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985. By long tradition, the waters washing the peninsula are called “the three seas”: they are the Golden Horn, the Bosphorus, and the Sea of Marmara.


City layout
The Galata and Atatürk bridges cross the Golden Horn to Beyoğlu district. Each day before dawn their centre spans are swung open to allow passage to seagoing ships. The shores of the Horn, served by water buses, are a jumble of docks, warehouses, factories, and occasional historical ruins. Ferries to the Asian side of Istanbul leave from under the Galata Bridge. Istanbul has three of the world’s longest suspension bridges: Bosphorus Bridge (completed in 1973), with a main span of 3,524 feet (1,074 meters); Bosphorus II, the Fatih Sultan Mehmed Bridge (1988), 3,576 feet (1,090 meters); and Bosphorus III, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (2016), 4,620 feet (1,408 meters). Two tunnels under the Bosphorus, one for passenger rail and one for automobile traffic, were opened in 2013 and 2016 respectively.
Beyoğlu, considered to be “modern Istanbul,” remains, as it has been since the 10th century, the foreign quarter. Warfare and fires have left standing only a few structures that were built earlier than the 19th century. The approach from the Golden Horn is steep, and a funicular railway runs between the Galata waterfront and the Pera Plateau. On the heights are the big hotels and restaurants, the travel agencies, theatres, the opera house, the consulates, and many Turkish government offices.
Transportation
Varying modes of rail transportation are found throughout the centre of the city; the Marmaray line connects the European and Asian sides of the city through a tunnel underneath the Bosphorus strait. Maritime services include many forms of transport, from harbour dinghies and small ferries to international liners. Buses provide internal urban transportation, and the ferries range as far as the Kızıl Adalar (Princes Islands), several hours sailing to the south. There are two airports in the city, one of both, Istanbul Airport, located about 50 km (30 miles) northwest of the city centre, provides both international and domestic service. The other one, Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is the 2nd airport of Istanbul, built within the borders of Pendik district on the Anatolian side. Sabiha Gökçen the airport’s name is the world’s first woman fighter pilot and Türkiye’s first woman pilot.

Places to Visit in Istanbul
Hıstorıc Areas of Istanbul
And the best part is that most of the sites, Hagia Sophia, Basilica Cistern Süleymaniye Mosque, Sultan Ahmed (Blue) Mosque, Topkapı Palace, Hippodrome and Grand Bazaar are located all right next to each other meaning you don’t have to walk all over the city to see them.

Hagia Sophia Mosque
This architectural marvel displays 30 million gold tiles throughout its interior, and a wide, flat dome which was a bold engineering feat at the time it was constructed in the 6th century.
Basilica Cistern
Descend below the streets of Sultanahmet into this majestic underground reservoir which dates back to the 6th century. Also called the Underground Palace, it is the largest cistern from Istanbul’s Byzantine-era still standing, and something that James Bond fans might recognize from the film, ‘From Russia with Love’. The underground chamber has over 330 distinctive marble and granite columns believed to have been salvaged from nearby buildings, the most famous being the two Medusa heads.


Süleymaniye Mosque
Süleymaniye Mosque, grand hilltop structure built in the 16th century on the orders of, and named after, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent in Istanbul. It was designed by Sinan, one of the great architects of his time and architect-in-chief to Süleyman for almost 28 years.
Blue Mosque
The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, also known by its official name, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today. It also attracts the attention of many tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture.


Topkapı Palace
The building of the Topkapı palace complex, also known as Saray-ı Cedide-i Âmire or Saray-ı Hümayun, started immediately following the conquest of Constantinople. The name Topkapı Palace was influenced by the Topkapusu Sahil Sarayı (coastal palace), which was built during the reign of Mahmud I and burned down in 1862. The entire palace became known by this name in the nineteenth century.
Hippodrome Square
The Byzantine emperors loved nothing more than an afternoon at the chariot races, and this rectangular arena alongside Sultanahmet Park was their venue of choice. In its heyday, it was decorated by obelisks and statues, some of which remain in place today. Re-landscaped in more recent years, it is one of the city’s most popular meeting places and promenades.


Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı)
The Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı) in Istanbul is one of the world’s most famous shopping destinations and, at 30,700 square meters, the world’s biggest enclosed bazaar. Once inside, the Bazaar’s 64 streets and smaller alleyways house roughly 4,000 stores and the mosque, post office, cafes, banks, and police station, making it a little central city.
Galata Tower
This historic watchtower, also known can be found at the end of Istanbul’s Istiklal shopping street. Today, this museum has exhibition spaces where you can learn about the area’s history and admire the iconic architecture of this stone tower. Head up to the observation deck, where you’ll be treated to sweeping views of the city and the Bosphorus Strait.


Eyup Sultan Mosque
The first mosque was built in the same site in 1458 after Sultan Mehmed the Conquerer found the burial place of Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari. By the end of the 18th Century, Sultan III Selim asked the imperial architect Grand Sinan to rebuild the mosque which is believed to have been affected by an earthquake. Grand Sinan finished the project in 1800 after two years of Sultan’s request. Sinan used baroque style this time and created a very elegant structure as he did hundreds of times in his projects. Besides its spiritual value, Eyup Sultan Mosque is very important to the Architecture of the Ottomans. Ottoman Sultans were crowned in the Mosque of Eyup Sultan.
Beylerbeyi Palace
This summer residence of the Sultans was also used to house foreign heads of state visiting the Ottoman capital. Several palaces had been built and demolished at this site over the years. The present structure was built between 1861-1865 and has six staterooms and 26 smaller rooms.


Rumeli Fortress
Rumelian Citadel (Turkish: Rumelihisarı) is also known Roumeli Hissar Citadel (literally ‘strait-cutter Citadel’) is a medieval Ottoman Citadel located in Istanbul, Türkiye, on a series of hills on the European banks of the Bosphorus. The Citadel also lends its name to the immediate neighbourhood around it in the city’s Sarıyer district. This three-towered Citadel was built in 1452 on the Bosphorus to protect the narrow waterway from advancing ships.
Maiden’s Tower (Kız Kulesi)
The Maiden’s Tower, also known as Leander’s Tower (Tower of Leandros) since the medieval Byzantine period, is a tower on a small islet at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait 200 m (220 yd) from the coast of Üsküdar in Istanbul.
After the naval victory at Cyzicus, the ancient Athenian general Alcibiades possibly built a custom station for ships coming from the Black Sea on a small rock in front of Chrysopolis (today’s Üsküdar). In 1110 Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus built a wooden tower protected by a stone wall. From the tower an iron chain stretched across to another tower erected on the European shore, at the quarter of Mangana in Constantinople. The islet was then connected to the Asiatic shore through a defense wall, whose underwater remains are still visible.


Anadolu Kavagi
Today Anadolu Kavagi is a sleepy fishing village located near the narrowest part of the Bosphorus. But the ruined castles, fortifications and ancient temples that surround it show how strategically important the area has been for millennia. The hills above the village give a beautiful view of the water and a welcome respite from city noise.
Şerefiye Cistern
Istanbul always required structures to store water due to the lack of sufficient sources as well as high population and sieges. The city used exposed and enclosed water reservoirs through the centuries. In this sense, it is known that great structures such as the Şerefiye and Basilica cisterns provided water to the baths of the Great Palace, Nymphaeum and Zeuxippus. Built on a 24m x 40m area with a ceiling up to 11 meters, the Şerefiyes Cistern has 45 sail vaults and 32 columns. All the Corinthian capitals bearing impost blocks were made of the Marmara Island marble brought specially for the cistern. The capitals are decorated with acanthus leaves. The inner walls of the structure were covered with watertight plaster while the corners are curved to ensure pressure resistance. The walls are around 2.5m thick.


Valens Aqueduct (Bozdogan Kemeri)
This is an impressive piece of Roman engineering that allowed water to be sent into Constantinople. It is rather off the beaten track but worth the short walk from the main sites of the city.
Kucuksu Pavilion
Küçüksu Pavilion is a summer pavilion in Istanbul, situated in the Küçüksu neighborhood of Beykoz district on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus between Anadoluhisarı and the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge. The pavilion was used by Ottoman sultans for short stays during country excursions and hunting.


Haydarpaşa Railway Station
Haydarpaşa station (Turkish: Haydarpaşa Garı) is a railway station in Istanbul, that was, until 2012 the main city terminal for trains travelling to and from the Anatolian side of Turkey. It used to be Turkey’s busiest railway station. (Its counterpart on the European side of the city was Sirkeci station which served train services to and from the Thracian side of the country.) The station building still houses the headquarters for District 1 of the State Railways but since a fire in 2010 the station has not been in use.
Beyazit Square
Officially named Freedom Square (Hürriyet Meydanı), it is more generally known as Beyazıt Square after the early Ottoman Bayezid II Mosque on one side. The square is the former site of the Forum of Theodosius (AKA Forum Tauri) built by Constantine the Great. Facing the mosque across the square is a medrese that formed part of its complex. In the past this served as a Museum of Calligraphy. Beyazit Square is accessible via the T1 tram line as is the adjacent Grand Bazaar (Kapalı Çarşı).


Dolmabahce Mosque
The Dolmabahçe Mosque is a baroque waterside mosque in Kabataş in Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, close to the Dolmabahçe Palace. It was commissioned by Queen Mother Bezmialem Valide Sultan and designed by the Turkish Armenian architect, Garabet Balyan in 1855. After his mother’s death, Sultan Abdülmecid saw the building work through to completion. The mosque has twin minarets and is distinguished by the huge stone arches on its facades which are cut with large windows, allowing light to flood the interior.
Dolmabahçe Palace
Dolmabahçe Palace (Turkish: Dolmabahçe Sarayı) located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European coast of the Bosporus strait, served as the main
administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 to 1922 (Yıldız Palace was used in the interim period).


Fountain of Ahmet III
The Fountain of Sultan Ahmed III (Turkish: III. Ahmet Çeşmesi) is a fountain in the great square in front of the Imperial Gate of Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built under Ottoman sultan Ahmed III in 1728, in the style of the Tulip period. It was a social centre and gathering place during the Ottoman period of Constantinople.





