İstanbul “Must-Do”s

Topkapı Sarayı

Palace of sultans from 15th- to 19th-century; housed thousands of imperial servants. Center of the historic district, overlooking city across Sea of Marmara, Golden Horn, and Bosporus. Magnificent treasury of jewels (86-carat Spoonmaker Diamond), elaborately tiled harem chambers and kiosks. Closed Tuesdays.

Galata Dervish House

Witness traditional whirling dervishes in the oldest lodge in Istanbul, established 1491. Mevlevi order of Sufis—followers of Jalal ad-Din Rumi founded in 1273—employ whirling (sema) as a form of prayer. Building houses Museum of Divan Poetry, 15th- to 18th-century ritualized Ottoman poetry.

Spice Bazaar

Built in 1663 as a stop for camel caravans traveling the Silk Road. “Turkish delight to precious saffron, caviar to henna, almost anything can be found.

The Blue Mosque (Called Sultanahmet Camii in Turkish) is an historical mosque in Istanbul.

The mosque is known as the Blue Mosque because of blue tiles surrounding the walls of interior

design.Mosque was built between 1609 and 1616 years.

Hagia Sophia Christendom’s largest cathedral for almost a thousand years; Emperor Justinian’s influential

architectural masterpiece from the sixth century. Centuries of gold mosaics of the Virgin Mary, archangel Gabriel, and Byzantine emperors and empresses. Converted into a mosque, now a museum with exhibits. Closed Mondays.

Basilica Cistern

Hauntingly lit sixth-century columns and vaulted ceilings; the largest of several hundred ancient water reservoirs beneath the city’s surface. Cool respite from summer heat; occasional art installations; or music and dance performances.

Grand Bazaar Last stop on the Silk Road. Labyrinthine market of more than 3,000 shops established in 1461 by

Mehmet the Conqueror. More than 50 streets of jewelry, textiles, pottery, glazed tiles, bronze, leather, carpets. Head for the heart, İç Bedestan, once the area harboring the most valuable goods.

Süleymaniye Mosque Designed by Mimar Sinan in 1550, largest mosque in Istanbul, withcaravanserai (roadside

inn), seminary, hospital, soup kitchen, andhamam. Garden mausolea of Süleyman the Magnificent and Ukrainian wife Roxelane.

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Dolmabahce Palace built in 19 th century is one of the most glamorous palaces in the world. It was the

administrative center of the late Ottoman Empire with the last of Ottoman Sultans was residing there. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic in Ankara, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk transferred all government functions to the youthful capital but on his visits to Istanbul Ataturk occupied only a small room at Dolmabahce Palace as his own. He stayed, welcomed his foreign guests and made a practical center for national, historical and language congress and

BOSPHORUS along shoreline of the strait which parts Asia and Europe best reveal the

city’s grandeur and other attractions hidden from street view. Although it has been known for a while that the

Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara flow into each other in an example of a density flow, findings of a study by the University of Leeds in August 2010 reveal that there is in fact an underwater channel of high-density water flowing across the floor of the Bosphorus (caused by the difference in density of the two seas), which would be the sixth largest river on Earth if it were to be on land.

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