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Kamondo Stairs
The curvaceous 18th-century Kamondo Stairs, one of Beyoğlu's most distinctive pieces of urban design, run south from Kart Çınar Sokak. Around the corner from the stairs you'll find the Schneidertempel Art Centre. This art gallery, which is housed in a modest former synagogue, hosts shows of Jewish art, usually contemporary and local in origin.
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Kapalı Çarşı (Grand Bazaar)
Kapalı Çarşı (Grand Bazaar) has been a shopper's Mecca since just after the mid-15th century, when the smallish warehouse was turned into a teeming bazaar by a constant stream of traders, selling everything from carpets to cummin. These days it's the most fantastic, monstrous, labyrinthine and totally manic shopping bazaar you could hope to experience.
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Kırmızı Yalı
Opposite Bebek on the Asian shore is Kırmızı Yalı, constructed in 1790 and one of the oldest still standing; a bit further on, also past the village of Kandilli, is the long, white Kıbrıslı Mustafa Emin Paşa Yalı.
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Kiz Kulesi
It's appropriate that the Kız Kulesi, one of this maritime city's most distinctive landmarks, is on the water. Arriving at Üsküdar by ferry, you'll notice the squat tower on a tiny island to the right (south), just off the Asian mainland. In ancient times a predecessor of the current 18th-century structure functioned as a tollbooth and defence point; the Bosphorus could be closed off by means of a chain stretching from here to Seraglio Point.
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Köprülü Amcazade Hüseyin Paşa Yalı
Just past Anadolu Hisarı (before the Fatih Bridge) is Köprülü Amcazade Hüseyin Paşa Yalı, built right on the water in 1698. It is the oldest mansion on the Bosphorus and is in a deplorable state of repair.
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Küçük Aya Sofya Camii
Justinian and Theodora built this little church sometime between 527 and 536 (just before Justinian built Aya Sofya) and you can still see their monogram worked into some of the frilly white capitals. It was named after the two patron saints of Christians in the Roman army. The building, which has recently been restored, is one of the most beautiful in the city.
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Küçüksu Kasrı
Küçüksu Kasrı, an ornate lodge built in 1856-57. Earlier sultans had wooden kiosks here, but architect Nikoğos Balyan designed a Rococo gem in marble for his monarch.
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Kuleli Military School
Past the small village of Çengelköy on the Asian side is the imposing Kuleli Military School, built in 1860 and immortalised in Irfan Orga's wonderful memoir, Portrait of a Turkish Family.
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Mevlevi Monastery
The Museum of Court Literature in the Mevlevi Monastery, is one of only a handful of functioning tekkes (dervish lodges) remaining in İstanbul. It's a slightly run-down compound and is really only worth visiting if you're here to see the sema (ceremony), and/or you feel like catching respite from the hubbub of Beyoğlu in the pleasant, shady gardens.
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Mihrimah Sultan Camii
The great Sinan put his stamp on the entire city and this mosque, constructed in the 1560s next to the Edirnekapı section of Theodosius' great wall, is one of his best works. Commissioned by Süleyman the Magnificent's favourite daughter, Mihrimah, it has recently been restored. The mosque is noted for its delicate stained-glass windows and its large interior space, made particularly light by its 19 windows in each arched tympanum.
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Mimar Sinan Çarşisi
Built by Nurbanu Sultan, mother of Sultan Murat III, between 1574 and 1583, this hamam is thought to have been the first designed by Sinan. Having fallen into ruins, part of it was torn down to accommodate construction of the avenue; the remaining half was restored in 1966 and is now cramped and crowded with shops.
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Miniaturk
We're can't explain why this new museum has been such a hit with locals. Marketed as a miniature park that showcases 'all times and locations of Anatolia at the same place at the same time', it's a bizarre tiny town stocked with models of Turkey's great buildings - everything from the Celsus Library at Ephesus to Atatürk International Airport - set in manicured lawns dotted with fake rocks blasting a distorted recording of the national anthem.
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Museum of Turkish & Islamic Arts
İbrahim Paşa was Süleyman the Magnificent's close friend and brother-in-law. Captured by Turks as a child in Greece, he had been sold as a slave into the imperial household in İstanbul and worked as a page in Topkapı, where he became friendly with Süleyman, who was the same age. When his friend became sultan, İbrahim was made in turn chief falconer, chief of the royal bedchamber and grand vizier.
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Museum Of Turkish Calligraphic Art
Housed in a small building at the western side of Beyazıt Square, this museum contains wall hangings and manuscripts illustrating mainly cursive calligraphic styles, many dating from the 13th century. There are also some examples of calligraphy on stone, tile and glass. The building, once the medrese of Beyazıt Camii, is a series of rooms surrounding a leafy courtyard.
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Neve Shalom Synagogue
During the 19th century, Galata had a large Sephardic Jewish population and a number of synagogues. Most of this community has now moved to other residential areas in the city, but the synagogues remain. Tragically, this building has become a target for anti-Jewish extremists and it has suffered two attacks in recent decades - a brutal massacre by Arab gunmen during the summer of 1986 and a 2003 car bomb attack.
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Nuruosmaniye Camii
Facing Nuruosmaniye Kapısı, one of several doorways into the Grand Bazaar, this mosque was built in Ottoman baroque style between 1748 and 1755. Construction was started by Mahmut I and finished by his successor Osman III. The baroque building has very strong echoes of Aya Sofya, specifically the broad, lofty dome, colonnaded mezzanine galleries, windows topped with Roman arches and the broad band of calligraphy around the interior.
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Ortaköy Camii
Right on the water's edge, this mosque is the work of Nikoğos Balyan, one of the architects of Dolmabahçe Palace. It was built for Sultan Abdül Mecit III between 1853 and 1855. With the super-modern Bosphorus Bridge now looming behind it, the mosque provides a fabulous photo opportunity for those wanting to illustrate İstanbul's 'old meets new' character.
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Patisserie Markiz
In Pera's heyday, there was no more glamorous spot to be seen than Patisserie Lebon in the Grand Rue de Pera (now İstiklal Caddesi). The place to enjoy gateaux and gossip, it was favoured by the city's European elite, who dressed to kill when they popped in for afternoon tea. Noting this, tailors, furriers and milliners opened shops in the adjoining Passage Orientale and did a brisk trade, making it the city's most exclusive retail precinct.
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Pera Museum
The most beloved painting in the Turkish canon - Osman Hamdı Bey's The Tortoise Trainer - sold at auction in late 2005 for a massive US$3.5 million. Turks were worried that the painting might be lost to the nation, so there was rejoicing when this new, privately funded museum announced that it had been the successful bidder and that the painting would be the focal point of its wonderful Orientalist painting collection.
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Princes' Islands
Most İstanbullus refer to the Princes' Islands as 'The Islands' (Adalar), as they are the only islands around the city. They lie about 20km southeast of the city in the Sea of Marmara, and make a great destination for a day escape from the city.
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Rahmi M Koç Müzesi
Located on the Beyoğlu side of the Golden Horn, Hasköy was for centuries a small, predominantly Jewish village. In the Ottoman period it also became home to a naval shipyard and a sultan's hunting ground. Today, its main claim to fame is a splendid industrial museum. Founded by the head of the Koç industrial group, one of Turkey's most prominent conglomerates, it exhibits artefacts from İstanbul's industrial past.
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Rumeli Hisarı
Just before the Fatih bridge are the majestic structures of Rumeli Hisarı and Anadolu Hisarı (Fortress of Anatolia). Mehmet the Conqueror had Rumeli Hisarı built in a mere four months during 1452, in preparation for his siege of Byzantine Constantinople. For its location, he chose the narrowest point of the Bosphorus, opposite Anadolu Hisarı, which Sultan Beyazıt I had built in 1391. By doing so Mehmet was able to control all traffic on the strait, so cutting the city off from re-supply by sea.
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Rüstem Paşa Camii
Plonked in the middle of the busy Tahtakale district, this little-visited mosque is a gem. Built in 1560 by Sinan for Rüstem Paşa, son-in-law and grand vizier of Süleyman the Magnificent, it is a showpiece of the best Ottoman architecture and tilework, albeit on a small scale. It is thought to have been the prototype for Sinan's greatest work, the Selimiye in Edirne.
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Sadberk Hanım Müzesi
North of the village of Tarabya are some of the old summer embassies of foreign powers. When the heat and fear of disease increased in the warm months, foreign ambassadors would retire to palatial residences, complete with lush gardens, on this shore. The region for such embassy residences extended north to the village of Büyükdere, notable for its churches, summer embassies and the Sadberk Hanım Müzesi.
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Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi
On the opposite shore to Kanlıca is the wealthy suburb of Emirgan, home to the recently opened and extremely impressive Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi, which hosts international travelling art exhibitions. The museum is home to one of İstanbul's hottest eateries, Müzedechanga.
