Istanbul Sights

  1. Ahrida Synagogue

    Balat once housed a large portion of the city's Jewish population. Sephardic Jews, driven from Spain by the judges of the Inquisition, found refuge in the Ottoman Empire in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and settled in this quarter of the city. Many of their descendants still live here and speak the native Spanish dialect of Ladino.

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  2. Anadolu Kavağı Kalesi

    Anadolu Kavağı is where the Bosphorus excursions ferry finishes its journey. It's a pleasant spot in which to wander and have a seafood lunch at one of the touristy places on the square in front of the ferry terminal. Perched above the village are the ruins of Anadolu Kavağı Kalesi, a medieval castle that originally had eight massive towers in its walls. First built by the Byzantines, it was restored and reinforced by the Genoese in 1350, and later by the Ottomans.

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  3. Aqueduct Of Valens

    Rising majestically over the traffic on busy Atatürk Bulvarı, this limestone structure is one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Visitors often gasp in amazement on seeing it for the first time (amazement often turns into consternation when they notice excited fans from the nearby Vefa football stadium doing perilous victory dances waving their team's colours from its dizzy heights).

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  4. Arap Camii

    This mosque is the only surviving place of worship built by the Genoese; it was the largest of the Latin churches in the city. Dating from 1337, it was converted to a mosque by Spanish Moors in the 16th century. It has a simple plan - long hall, tall square belfry-cum-minaret - with ornate flourishes such as the galleries added in the 20th century.

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  5. Askeri Müzesi

    For a rousing museum experience try to visit in the afternoon so that you can enjoy the concert given by the Mehter, the medieval Ottoman Military Band, between and daily. On the ground floor are displays of weapons, a 'martyrs' gallery ( şehit galerisi ) with artefacts from fallen Turkish soldiers of many wars, displays of Turkish military uniforms through the ages, and glass cases holding battle standards, both Turkish and captured.

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  7. Atik Valide Camii

    This is one of the grandest of Sinan's İstanbul mosques, second only to his Süleymaniye. Experts rate it as one of the most important Ottoman mosque complexes in the country. It was built in 1583 for Valide Sultan Nurbanu, wife of Selim II and mother of Murat III. Nurbanu had been captured by Turks on the Aegean island of Paros when she was 12 years old, ending up as a slave in Topkapı.

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  8. Aya Sofya

    Called Hagia Sofia in Greek, Sancta Sophia in Latin and the Church of the Divine Wisdom in English, İstanbul's most famous monument has long and fascinating history. Built by Emperor Justinian, it was constructed on the site of Byzantium's acropolis, which had also been the site of two earlier Aya Sofyas.

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  9. Azapkapi Sokollu Mehmet Paşa Camii

    This pretty mosque, designed by Sinan and built in 1577, is unusual in that it and the minaret are raised on a platform. Like Sinan's Rüstem Paşa Camii over the Golden Horn (also on a raised platform), it was commissioned by Sokollu Mehmet Paşa, a grand vizier of Süleyman the Magnificent. Today it's overshadowed by the approach to Atatürk Bridge and seems to almost shrink back from the traffic mayhem of Tersane Caddesi.

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  10. Basilica Cistern

    When those Byzantine emperors built something, they certainly did it properly! This extraordinary subterranean structure, built by Justinian in AD 532 (perhaps on the site of an earlier cistern), is the largest surviving Byzantine cistern in İstanbul. Now one of the city's most popular tourist attractions, it's a great place to while away 30 minutes or so, especially during summer when its cavernous depths stay wonderfully cool.

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  11. Baths Of Lady Hürrem

    Traditionally, every mosque had a hamam included in or around its complex of buildings. Aya Sofya was no exception and this elegant symmetrical building, designed by Sinan between 1556 and 1557, was built just across the road from the great mosque by Süleyman in the name of his wife Hürrem Sultan, known to history as Roxelana. The hamam was one of 32 Sinan designed and is widely thought be his best.

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  13. Beyazit Camii

    Dating from 1501 to 1506, this was the second imperial mosque to be built in the city after Mehmet the Conqueror's Fatih Camii, and was the prototype for other imperial mosques. In effect, it is the link between Aya Sofya, which obviously inspired its design, and the great mosques such as Süleymaniye, which are realisations of Aya Sofya's design fully adapted to Muslim worship.

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  14. Beyazit Square & İstanbul University

    Beyazıt Square is officially called Hürriyet Meydanı (Freedom Square), though everyone knows it simply as Beyazıt. Under the rule of the Byzantines it was called the Forum of Theodosius. Sections of the forum's columns decorated with stylised oak-knot designs were dug up from the square during the 1950s and can be seen on the other side of Yeniçeriler Caddesi.

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  15. Beylerbeyi Palace

    On the waterfront across the Bosphorus Bridge is the grand Beylerbeyi Palace. Look for its whimsical marble bathing pavilions on the shore, one was for men, the other for the women of the harem.

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  16. Binbirdirek Cistern

    Constantine built Binbirdirek in AD 330. During Ottoman times it was converted into a khan for silk manufacturers. Closed for decades, it was restored a few years ago and functions as a café and venue for exhibitions and concerts. Not as impressive as the Basilica Cistern (largely because it has been emptied of its water reserves and has a false floor), the only time this place is really worth a visit is when it hosts the concerts.

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  17. Blue Mosque

    With this mosque, Sultan Ahmet I (r 1603-17) set out to build a monument that would rival and even surpass the nearby Aya Sofya in grandeur and beauty. So enthusiastic was the sultan about his grand project that he is said to have worked with the labourers and craftsmen on site, pushing them along and rewarding extra effort.

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  19. Boğaziçi Üniversitesi

    Above Bebek you'll notice the New England 19th-century-style architecture of the Boğaziçi Üniversitesi. Founded by American missionaries in the mid-19th century as Robert College, the college had an important influence on the modernisation of political, social, economic and scientific thought in Turkey. It was donated to the Turkish Republic in the early 1970s.

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  20. Bosphorus Night Cruise

    One of the most enjoyable, and certainly most romantic, night-time activities in İstanbul is to take a Bosphorus ferry. Enjoy the view back to the Old City, the twinkling lights, the fishing boats bobbing on the waves and the powerful searchlights of the ferries sweeping the sea lanes.

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  21. Büyük Çamlica Off

    A hilltop park with a crown of pine trees, Büyük Çamlıca is the highest point in the city and can be seen from miles away. It's beloved by İstanbullus, who flock here to relax, picnic in the pretty gardens, eat at the Çamlıca Restaurant and gaze upon their fine city. From the terraces you'll see the minaret-filled skyline of Old İstanbul, as well as the Bosphorus winding its way to the Black Sea.

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  22. Büyük Göksu Deresi

    Next to the Kıbrıslı Yalı are the Büyük Göksu Deresi and Küçük Göksu Deresi (Small Heavenly Stream), two brooks that descend from the Asian hills into the Bosphorus. Between them is a fertile delta, grassy and shady, which the Ottoman elite thought perfect for picnics. Foreign residents, referred to the place as 'The Sweet Waters of Asia'.

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  23. Caferağa Medresesi

    This lovely little building, which is tucked away in the shadows of Aya Sofya, was designed by Sinan on the orders of Cafer Ağa, Süleyman the Magnificent's chief black eunuch. Built in 1560 as a school for Islamic and secular education, today it is home to the Turkish Cultural Services Foundation, which runs workshops in traditional Ottoman arts such as calligraphy, ebru (traditional Turkish marbling) and miniature painting.

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  25. Çemberlitaş

    This is one of city's most ancient and revered monuments: a derelict column known as Çemberlitaş (also known as the Hooped, Banded Stone or Burnt Column). Erected by Constantine the Great (r 324-37) to celebrate the dedication of Constantinople as capital of the Roman Empire in 330, the column was placed in what was the grand Forum of Constantine and was topped by a statue of the great emperor himself.

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  26. Chora Church

    Chora literally means 'country', and when it was built Chora Church, or the Church of the Holy Saviour Outside the Walls, was indeed outside the city walls built by Constantine the Great. However, within a century it was engulfed by Byzantine urban sprawl and enclosed within a new set of walls built by Emperor Theodosius II.

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  27. Christ Church

    Designed by CE Street (who also did London's Law Courts), the cornerstone of this Anglican church was laid in 1858 by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, known as 'The Great Elchi' ( elçi, meaning ambassador) because of his paramount influence in mid-19th-century Ottoman affairs. The church, dedicated in 1868 as the Crimean Memorial Church, is the largest of the city's Protestant churches. It was restored and renamed in the mid 1990s.

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  28. Church Of Ss Peter & Paul

    Tucked away in one of the steep streets below Galata Tower you'll find the small grey-and-white doorway to the courtyard of the Church of SS Peter and Paul. A Dominican church originally stood on this site, but the building you see today dates from the mid-19th century. It's the work of the Fossati brothers who also designed the Dutch and Russian consulate buildings (both in Beyoğlu).

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  29. Church Of St Mary Of The Mongols

    History buffs will find a visit here more satisfying than those specifically interested in architecture, as this squat red-brick church is quite unprepossessing from the outside and an unfortunate exercise in ecclesiastical decorative overkill inside. Historically, though, it is extremely significant, being the only Byzantine church in İstanbul which has not, at some stage or another, been in Ottoman hands.

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