Istanbul Travel Guide

Istanbul, known as the timeless city is a truly modern world city. Its skyline studded with ascending domes and minarets. Unless you see it with your own eyes it is hard to describe this beautiful city spread on seven hills in words. It is a fascinating blend of Eastern and Western culture, a vibrant city, with a unique identity and has been capital city of three different Empires and its names changed from Byzantium to Constantinople and finally to Istanbul as the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Today, Istanbul remains Turkey's cultural and business centre.

The Bosphorus divides the city into European and Asian sides. No wonder it is fascinating visitors as the 3 Empires leaving their own mark to the city. There are charming places to visit in Istanbul, mosques, churches, castles, monuments and more. Today's Istanbul offers world-class accommodation in its hotels, best historical sites, fascinating tourist attractions, restaurants, cafés, bars and more to enjoy.

Istanbul palaces...
 On a cape at the confluence of the Bosporus and the Golden Horn, is Topkapi Palace, a maze of structures in the center of the Ottoman Empire between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. In this opulent surroundings, the sultans lived and ruled Ottoman Empire.

Built in the mid-nineteenth century by Sultan Abdülmecit I, the facade of the Palace of Dolmabahçe stretches along 600 meters at the European shore of the Bosporus. Impressive is the reception hall with 56 columns and a huge crystal chandelier, which weighs four tons and a half and contains 750 bulbs.

The Beylerbeyi Palace is situated in the Asian side of the Bosporus. It was built in white marble by Sultan Abdulaziz in the nineteenth century. It has a magnificent garden with magnolias. The palace was used as a summer residence of the sultans and as a guesthouse for foreign dignitaries.

Other palaces are noteworthy: Yildiz Palace, Göksu Palace, the Ihlamur Palace, Merasim or Maiyet, and the Summer Palace of Maslak, conceived by Sultan Abdulaziz as flags of hunting, superb examples of Ottoman decorative style of late nineteenth century.
Facing St. Sophia stands the supreme elegance of the Imperial Sultanahmet Mosque with six minarets. Built between 1609 and 1616 by architect Mehmet, is better known as the Blue Mosque because its interior is covered with a magnificent empanelado of Iznik tiles of blue and white.

Istanbul mosques...
The staggered domes and four slender minarets of the Imperial Süleymaniye Mosque dominate the skyline on the western shore of the Golden Horn. Considered the most beautiful imperial mosques of Istanbul, was built between 1550-57 by Sinan, the famous architect of the Ottoman Golden Age.

The Mosque of Sokollu Mehmet Pasa of the sixteenth century, a masterpiece of architect Sinan. Inside, there is an impressive set of blue, green, purple and red colored, the elegant designs of the tiles from Iznik (Nicea).  

Glass panels cover the four huge arches that support the central dome of the Mosque of Mihrimah Sultan, 161 windows illuminate this mosque, built in 1555 by Sinan for Mihrimah Sultana, sister of Soliman the Magnificent.

The Grand Bazaar ...
The Grand Bazaar, located in the historic area, was the first building built in the spirit world with an exclusively commercial reason, and is one of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 6,000 shops that met all the unions of the time. Currently, in the Grand Bazaar are the most characteristic of the different periods of history in Turkey. The traveler will find there all you want to take as a souvenir from a country where history and the blending of cultures have offered an exotic attraction that is still palpable in the city of Istanbul. It is the Egyptian Bazaar (Turkish: 'Mısır Çarşısı') that attracts us with its aromas and perfumes, more popularly known as the Spice Bazaar, was devoted to trade since ancient times the most exotic and fine spices of the Orient, was also the site where they sold very useful elements in antiquity, such as Gunpowder.

Istanbul museums...
The Hagia Sophia (sometimes referred to as Saint Sophia) is undoubtedly one of the most fantastic buildings of all time. Built by Constantine the Great and reconstructed by Justinian in the 6th century, its ascending dome rises 55 meters above the ground, with a diameter of 31 meters.

Archaeological Museums are within the first courtyard of the Topkapi Palace and comprise two different sections: the museum of antiquities, where the famous Sarcophagus of Alexander the treasures among Greeks, Romans and Byzantines, and the Museum of Ancient Orient, which sets objects of civilizations Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite and Hattie.

Like the Ayasofya Museum, the Museum of St. Irene was also a church in its origins. In fact, it is considered the first church built in Istanbul.

The Chora Museum (Kariya Museum), the XI century church of San Salvador of Chora, after Hagia Sophia, is the most important Byzantine monuments in Istanbul. An extraordinary architecture, its interior walls are decorated with magnificent frescoes and mosaics of the fourteenth century.

Monuments and Historic Sites...
The ancient Hippodrome, the scene of racing cars and center of Byzantine civic life is outdoors in front of the Blue Mosque, in an area now called Sultanahmet. Only three monuments: the Obelisk of Theodosius, the bronze Serpentine Column and the Column of Constantine. The Fountain of Ahmet III, built in 1729, is located at the entrance f the Topkapi Palace. This source with large ornaments is a superb example of the late Ottoman style. The Aqueduct (Bozdogan Kemeri), built in 368 AD, supplying water to the Byzantine palaces and then the Ottomans.

The walls of Istanbul, once an impenetrable fortress, stretching along seven miles from the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn is dating back to the V century and the reign of Emperor Theodosius II.

The Galata Tower, a Genoese construction of 1348, raising to 62 meters above the Golden Horn, from whose top you can see a wonderful panorama of the Golden Horn and the Bosporus.

The neighborhoods of Ortaköy and Nişantaşı ...
The bohemian district of Ortaköy, under the bridge over the Bosporus and the European shore, is a neighborhood of small streets, antique shops, souvenir, bars and restaurants with terraces on the shores of the Bosporus and breathtaking views of extraordinary beauty. The neighborhood of Nişantaşı, is one of the modern neighborhoods where you can find all the businesses of most prestigious international brands in the world.

The Bosporus...
The best way to see the Bosporus (the winding strait that separates Europe from Asia), is aboard one of the cruise ships that travel its shores.

The Bosporus Bridge is one of the world's largest suspension bridges, linking Europe and Asia. The wonderful Beylerbeyi Palace is located after the bridge in the Asian part.
Since Duatepe Hill, on the European side, you can admire the magnificent panorama of the bridge and the Bosporus. Below Duatepe is the wonderful Emirgan Park.

The Haliç (Golden Horn) is a sanctuary in the form of horn that divides European Istanbul. Regarded as one of the best natural harbors in the world, were Byzantine and Ottoman fleet and the interests of commercial shipping concentrated.

The outskirts of Istanbul...
Princes Islands are an archipelago composed of nine islands in the Sea of Marmara, which were places of exile for the Byzantine princes. The largest of these islands is Buyukada; the other popular islands are Kinali, Sedef, Burgaz and Heybeli. These are connected by ferry in the European and Asian shores.

The Belgrade Forest, inland from the Black Sea, in the European part, is the largest forest around Istanbul. Seven ancient reservoirs and a series of natural springs cool the air. Majestic Ottoman aqueducts awarded to the natural environment.

In the Black Sea, 70 km from Uskudar, the fine sandy beaches, Sile hotels and fish restaurants turn this city into one of the most delicious summer enclaves in the vicinity of Istanbul.