Places to visit: Walls of Istanbul, Hippodrome, Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia),
Chora Museum (Kariye Muzesi), Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace Museum,
Yerebatan Sarayi (Basilica Cistern or Underground Palace), Grand Bazaar,
Spice Bazaar (Egyptian Bazaar), Dolmabahce Palace Museum, Beylerbeyi Palace Museum, Bosphorus.

Walls of Istanbul: Istanbul has been surrounded by walls four times since the day it was founded. First walls were built by Byzas in the 7 B.C., second - by Septimus Severus in 196 A.D., third – by Constantine 1, in the 4C A.D., and fourth - by Theodosius 2, in the 5C A.D. Final walls of Istanbul are among the longest walls in Europe with length of 21 km / 13 miles. In the walls of Istanbul there are more than 50 gates and 300 bastions.

Hippodrome: Ancient Hippodrome, an enormous public entertainment arena that once seated as many as 100.000 zealous fans witnessing chariot races, executions, and mock battles. Once the centre of Byzantine civic life, it is still decorated by the Egyptian Obelisk, the Bronze Serpentine Column, and the Column of Constantine.

Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia): This famous basilica was constructed in 6C A.D. It is often described as the greatest work of Byzantine architecture. Once the Church of Holy Wisdom, Christendom’s crowning glory, and now a museum, the church that glittered with mosaics, and art treasures filling every corner. Today, Haiga Sophia is the forth largest building made as a church in the world. It was dedicated to the Hagia Sophia which means the Divine Wisdom, an attribute of Christ.

Chora Museum (Kariye Muzesi): Kariye museum originally formed the centre of a Byzantine monastery Complex. Only the church section, which was dedicated to Jesus Christ the Savoir, has survived. The three most important features of the church, which have been restored by Theodorus Metochitus in 14C, are mosaics, frescoes and the funerary chapel (Paracclesion).

Blue Mosque: famous Sultan Ahmet Mosque. Built between 1609 and 1616 by the architect Sedefkar Mehmet Ağa, the building is more familiarly known as the Blue Mosque because its interior gleams with the magnificent panelling of blue and white 17C Iznik tiles. Being close to Topkapi Palace, Sultan Ahmet Mosque was regarded as the Supreme Imperial Mosque in the Ottoman Istanbul.

Topkapi Palace museum: Topkapi was the second palace in Istanbul built after the conquest. It was the residence for the Ottoman Sultans. It represented the maze of opulent buildings at the centre of the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 19th centuries. This palace where the sultans and their courts and harem lived and governed is now one of the world’s richest museums.

Yerebatan Sarayi (Basilica Cistern or Underground Palace): Istanbul was one of the most often besieged cities in the world and has always needed permanent water supplies. 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. 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.

Grand Bazaar: The area of Grand Bazaar was a trade centre during the Byzantine period. Two bedestens were built by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror to enrich the economic life in the city. Later on as people needed more place for their trade, they also added parts outside these bedestens.

Throughout the Ottoman period, the bazaar underwent earthquakes and fires and was restored several times. Today, the atmosphere of the Grand Bazaar is very interesting and has consequently become a very popular place for tourists to explore a labyrinth of streets and passages housing eighteen entrances and more than 4.000 shops.

Spice Bazaar (Egyptian Bazaar): was built in 1664 as a part of the Yeni Cami complex, which is located next to it. Shops sold only spices during Ottoman period. Today, there are some spice shops as well as the ones selling dried fruit, borek, basket work, jewelry, haberdashery, drapery, and suchlike. The bazaar has an “L” shape and six gates.

Dolmabahce Palace Museum: This palace was the residence of the last 6 Ottoman Sultans. The Palace was built in the mid-19th century by order of Sultan Abdul Mecit I. The Sultan’s architect was given the order that building should “surpass the palace of any potentate anywhere in the world.” The architect certainly fulfilled the order!

The facade of the palace stretches for more than 1.200-feet on European shores of the Bosphorus. Its vast reception salon, with 56 columns and a huge crystal chandelier, weighting four and a half tons and lit by 750 lights, never fails to astonish visitors.

Beylerbeyi Palace Museum: The present Palace of Beylerbeyi was built for Abdülaziz in 1861 –65 by Sarkis Balyan. The palace was used mainly as a summer lodge and as a residence for visiting royalty. Beylerbeyi is as sumptuously furnished and decorated as Dolmabahçe - French clocks; vases from China, Japan, France, and luxurious furniture all manufactured in the imperial Ottoman workshops at Yıldız are very impressive. The palace is also decorated with superb murals done by European painters such as Ayvazoski.

Bosphorus: Bosphorus is a narrow, navigable strait between Europe and Asia connecting the Black Sea to Marmara Sea. It is about 31 km/20 miles long and varies between 1 and 2.5 km/ 0.5 and 1.5 miles in width.

Along both shores are many attractions including ancient ruins, picturesque villages, wooden houses and forested areas.