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Suggested Places of Interest in Istanbul

There are lots of Places of Interest in Istanbul. The highlights may be summarized as follows. Your time in Istanbul may be enough to see some of them. Depending on your pacing and interests (archaeology, nature, history, culture, etc.) we may choose from among them or add other sites too.

Highlights:

HIPPODROME
The original building of the Hippodrome was built by the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus in 203 AD when he rebuilt Byzantium. Constantine the Great reconstructed, enlarged and adorned it with beautiful works which were brought from different places of the Roman Empire when he chose Byzantium as his new capital. Hippodrome,

SULTAN AHMET CAMISI (BLUE MOSQUE)
Built by Sultan Ahmet I as a part of a large complex, among the Turkish people it is called Sultan Ahmet Mosque. However, tourists fascinated with the beautiful blue tiles always remember it as the Blue Mosque. The complex consisted of a mosque, tombs, medreses, fountains, a health center, kitchens, shops, a bath, rooms, houses and storehouses. Blue Mosque,

TURKISH AND ISLAMIC ARTS MUSEUM
The building of this marvellous museum was used as the palace of Ibrahim Pasha, one of the viziers of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent in the 16th century.

Among the exhibited works in the museum today, are a very rich collection of carpets of not only Turkey, but also the world, very fine examples of calligraphy, the Koran, imperial edicts, tugras of Ottoman sultans, miniature paintings, wooden and stone works, ceramics and glassware from the early - Islamic Period and a separate section on ethnography with carpet and kilim looms, wool painting techniques, public weaving and ornamenting samples, regional clothes, handicrafts, nomadic tents, etc. Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum,

CHORA MONASTERY
Kariye Museum originally formed the center of a Byzantine monastery complex. Only the church section, which was dedicated to Jesus Christ the Savior, has survived. After the arrival of the Turks in Istanbul, this building, like the Hagia Sophia, was converted into a mosque. In 1948 it was made a museum leaving no Islamic element in the building except the 19C minaret outside in the corner. Chora Monastery,

AYASOFYA (HAGIA SOPHIA)
The Hagia Sophia was probably the largest building on the world's surface, barring the Egyptian Pyramids, or the Great Wall of China. For many centuries it was the largest church and today is the fourth largest in the world after St. Paul's in London, St. Peter's in Rome and the Duomo in Milan. The great Ottoman architect Sinan, in his autobiography, says that he devoted his lifetime in the attempt to surpass its technical achievements. Hagia Sophia,

YEREBATAN SARNICI / Underground Cistern
Istanbul was one of the most often besieged cities in the world and has always needed permanent water supplies. And as a result many underground cisterns were built during the Byzantine Empire. Water was brought to these big reservoirs from far away sources through aqueducts. It is still possible to see remains of a large aqueduct in Unkapani. This is called Bozdogan Kemeri (Aqueduct of Valens) and was built in 375 AD by the Emperor Valens. Because Turks have always preferred running water, after capturing the city from the Byzantines, they did not use cisterns properly. Most of them were usually converted into either small bazaars or storehouses. The largest and most ornate of these cisterns is Yerebatan Sarayi. In its construction, columns and capitals of earlier temples were used and this provides a very decorative appearance. This is why it is called saray which means "palace" in Turkish. Underground Cistern,

TOPKAPI SARAYI (TOPKAPI PALACE)
The Topkapi Sarayi was the second palace in Istanbul after the conquest. The first was in the Bayezit area and it was called the Old Palace after the construction of Topkapi. Called the New Palace initially it was named as the Topkapi Palace after a summer palace near the sea at Sarayburnu in the 19C. Topkapi Palace,

SULEYMANIYE MOSQUE
Suleymaniye, rather than a mosque, is an important historical symbol for the Turks. It unites Sinan with Suleyman, one representing the best of the arts and the other most powerful of political strength. Suleymaniye Mosque,

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM OF ISTANBUL
The Istanbul Archaeological Museum consists of mainly three separate buildings: the Museum of Archaeology, the Museum of Oriental Antiquities and the Tiled Pavilion.

It houses over one million objects. Among the most notable are the sarcophagi and the most famous of these is the Alexander Sarcophagus. On the mezzanine level is the exhibit of Istanbul through the Age.

Among the collection of the Museum of Oriental Antiquities, the most important artefact is the tablet of the Treaty of Kadesh, the first recorded international treaty in the world between the Hittite and Egyptian Empires, Hattusilis III and Ramses II, in 1284 BC.

Across from the Archaeology Museum is the Tiled Pavilion, a wonderful pavilion of turquoise ceramic tiles. The building was originally built as a hunting pavilion, and now houses Turkish Ceramics. Museum of Archaelogy,

DOLMABAHCE SARAYI (PALACE)
Towards the end of the Ottoman Empire, in the 19C, the Westernization movement was dominant. For the Ottomans who lived in Istanbul, "West" was in the "north" beyond the Golden Horn. In mid-nineteenth century they moved a few kilometers to the north for (Dolmabahce Palace) and this change took the Empire to an entirely different dimension. Dolmabahce Palace,

MISIR CARSISI (EGYPTIAN BAZAAR)
It was built in 1664 as a part of the Yeni Cami complex which is located next to it. Misir in Turkish means Egypt and it is called the Egyptian Bazaar because the shopkeepers used to sell spices and herbs which were brought from or through Egypt. During the Ottoman period it was known as a place where shops sold only spices. Today there are only a few spice and herb specialists. The rest sell dried fruit, borek, basket work, jewelry, haberdashery, drapery and suchlike. Spice Bazaar,

KAPALI CARSI (GRAND BAZAAR)
During the Byzantine period the area of the Grand Bazaar was a trade center. After the Turks came to Istanbul, two bedestens which formed the essence of today's Grand Bazaar were built between 1455-1461 by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in an attempt to enrich the economic life in the city. Later on as people needed more places for their trade, they also added parts outside these bedestens. In time the Grand Bazaar was formed. Grand Bazaar,

Bosphorus Cruise / ISTANBUL BOGAZI OR BOGAZICI (BOSPHORUS)
The Bosphorus is a narrow, navigable strait between Europe and Asia connecting the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) to the Marmara Sea (Propontis).
It is about 31 km / 20 mi long and varies between 1 and 2.5 km / 0.5 and 1.5 mi wide. The narrowest point is 700 m / 2,300 ft between the fortresses of Rumeli and Anadolu. Swift currents make navigation difficult. The average depth is 50 m / 164 ft. In the Bosphorus there are two currents; one on the surface from the Black Sea towards the Marmara Sea and one below the surface in the opposite direction. The Black Sea is 24 cm / 9.5 in higher than the Marmara and this causes the current on the surface. The other current is because of the changes of salt rates in the two seas. Bosphorus Cruise.

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