Istanbul is incredibly diverse, from its architecture to its food and everything in between. With welcoming locals, high-spirited communities, artistic treasures and bags of culture (think galleries, museums, festivals and attractions), it’s no wonder Istanbul is one of the most up and coming destinations.
Once the capital of the Ottoman Empire, Istanbul is now most famous as the city where the East meets the West – Asia lingers on the Bosphorus strait’s eastern shores while Europe looms on the western side. First known as Byzantium and then Constantinople, it was always a city that shuffled identities.
Even now, after it has long since lost its capital status to Ankara and has had to cope with a vast influx of settlers from the east, it’s a vibrant, colourful place that hosts one of the world’s most romantic settings.
And you’d have to travel a very long way indeed to find views to beat those of the undulating Bosphorus skyline with its pencil-thin minarets jutting up between the lushly curvaceous domes of a hundred different mosques.
Istanbul Facts
• Istanbul is the only city in the world that straddles two continents, Europe and Asia. It was for this reason that the Roman Emperor Constantine built the city.
• Originally the city was called Byzantium before being renamed Constantinople and was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and its successors until 1453 when it became the Ottoman capital.
• The famous bronze horses decorating the San Marco cathedral in Venice were stolen from Istanbul when the 4th crusade sacked the city in 1204.
• The Grand Bazaar is the biggest old covered bazaar in the world, with over 3.000 shops.
• It was the most crowded city in the world in 1502 only being surpassed by London in 1840.
When to Visit
The best time to visit Istanbul is spring or autumn, where the temperature is comfortable but tourist numbers are low, giving you a proper feel for authentic Turkish life. Summer is the most popular period, due to the tourism resorts here.
Getting to Istanbul
Turkish Airlines, PIA, IndiGo, Pegasus Airlines, Air Canada, United, American Airlines and British Airways all fly direct to Istanbul. Find cheap flights with Skyscanner.
Where to Stay
Wabi Sabi is highly recommended award-winning luxury hostel, located a stone’s throw from trendy Taksim Square. Facilities include the Bunk roof – a terrace to enjoy the (included) breakfast or enjoy a cocktail at sunset! Find more hotels and hostels on Booking.com.
Tours
Find the best Istanbul city sightseeing tours and attraction tickets on GetYourGuide or Viator.
Top Places to Visit in Istanbul
Although it’s a massive city – the confines of greater Istanbul host some 16 million people – on a brief visit you need only concentrate on two areas of the centre: Sultanahmet, or Old Istanbul, which harbours the great Byzantine and Ottoman monuments; and Beyoglu (sometimes called Taksim), the more modern part which boasts a seemingly never-ending line-up of restaurants, bars and clothes shops.
Sultanahmet is not just the most historic part of the city but also the most beautiful, with picturesque parks and gardens squeezed in between the monuments – come in spring to catch a truly dazzling display of flowering tulips. The heart of the action is Sultanahmet Square, which stands between two of the most spectacular monuments: Aya Sofya (Haghia Sophia) and the Blue Mosque.
From a quick glance at their matching minarets and domes you could be forgiven for assuming that they were equally old. In fact, Aya Sofya started life as a church under the 6th-century Byzantine Emperor Justinian, while the Blue Mosque was the creation of Sultan Ahmet I more than ten centuries later.
In 1453 when the Ottoman Emperor Mehmet the Conqueror seized the city from the Byzantines he turned Aya Sofya into a mosque, hence the unexpected sight of minarets attached to what was once a church.
Just round the corner from Aya Sofya is Topkapi Palace, home to the Ottoman sultans between the mid-15th century and the mid-19th century. Although called a palace, Topkapi is not a single building as Westerners might expect. Instead it is a set of graceful kiosks framing surprisingly intimate courtyards and gardens.
However pressed you are for time, be sure to see the Ottoman Treasury with its egg-sized rubies and emeralds, and to tour the famous Harem which, despite all the rumoured skulduggery, was just the private quarters of the palace, occupied by the sultan’s wives and children.
Hard as it will be to tear yourself away from the awe-inspiring views across the Bosphorus from the palace, there is still one more magnificent and easily overlooked monument to see before you leave Sultanahmet, and that is the incredible Yerebatan Cistern.
Once a part of the Byzantine city’s water-supply system, it’s now bathed in imaginative light and sound effects, which has turned this unlikely relic into an unmissable underground attraction. Look out, in particular, for the upside-down gorgon’s head tucked in amid the marble columns – proof that the builders treated valuable ancient stones as so much reusable rubble.
A short walk west of Sultanahmet is the famous Kapali Carsi, or Covered Bazaar, a noisy, chaotic grab-bag of more than 4000 shops selling everything from gold jewellery and knock-off designer T-shirts to priceless antiques and carpets. Make sure you hone your bargaining skills before you cross the threshold, and come prepared to parry the shopkeepers’ relentless repartee.
Foodies will get their kicks out of the Spice, or Egyptian, Bazaar that overlooks the waterfront near the Galata Bridge. Here, herbs and spices form colourful cones alongside every imaginable variety of Turkish delight and assorted nut-and-honey confections cheekily marketed as ‘Turkish Viagra’. In the surrounding streets you may want to sample some of the tastier local cheeses although it’s as well to steer clear of the large jars of leeches.
The area around Galata Bridge is a great place to take Istanbul’s pulse. All day long the bridge itself is lined with enthusiastic anglers, while beneath them diners tuck into fish lunches at the many small restaurants clinging to its underside. Tasty hot mackerel sandwiches make quicker and cheaper lunches – grab one from one of the floating restaurants nearby for just a lira or so.
On sunny summer days there are few pleasures to beat a boat ride on the Bosphorus. Some cruises work their way up one shore of the straits as far as the Black Sea and then return along the other shore, a leisurely trip that takes up the best part of a day.
There are also shorter cruises that travel as far as the ruins of the castle at Rumeli Hisari and back again. If you’re short of time, then there’s nothing to stop you hopping on one of the ferries that ply back and forth between the European and Asian sides of the city for just a handful of kurus.
Trams trundle across Galata Bridge to Kabatas where they connect with a funicular railway up to Taksim Square. Even on the shortest visit it’s well worth coming here to join the jam-packed evening promenade along Istiklal Caddesi.
Come to dispel the Sultanahmet vision of Istanbul as an Ottoman theme park. This is young, vibrant, modern Turkey at its liveliest, and the bars on and around Istiklal Caddesi offer the best of Turkish music to enthusiastic audiences.
The cafés and restaurants of Istiklal Caddesi cater for every budget and taste, from the corner shops selling cheap doner kebabs to the classy restaurants around Tepebasi (the southern end of the street) which offer the latest in fusion cuisine.
The covered Cicek Pasaji (Flower Passage) is a popular venue for eating fish and downing raki, the potent local aniseed drink. However, if you’re up for something more adventurous, Nevizade Sokak, behind the Flower Passage, is wall-to-wall restaurants and shoulder-to-shoulder Turks tucking into mezes (hot and cold starters) and hearty fish suppers.
Before leaving Istanbul you should certainly squeeze in a trip to the hamam or Turkish bath in Cemberlitas, a short walk west of Sultanahmet. Here, men and women bathe in separate parts of a stunning bathhouse designed by the great 16th-century Ottoman architect Sinan. As you stretch out on a marble slab beneath a dome pierced by starlights, the exertions of a frantic day’s sightseeing will seem a million miles away.
Inshallah (God willing, as the Turks say), that should still leave time for one final treat, which is a puff on a nargile or water pipe.
Several cafés in Sultanahmet can supply a pipe ready stoked with aromatic apple tobacco. But the most atmospheric place to try one out is Erenler Cay Bahcesi in the grounds of an old medrese (Islamic school) on the road linking Cemberlitas with the Covered Bazaar.
Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar
If you decide to step into this Turkish market with its 5000 shops, 60 streets and tons of vendors, you had better bring your game face and your wallet. While this covered market is one of the most ancient and beautiful places I have ever parted with money, it never promises to be a relaxed shopping experience.
For one, on any given day there are over 250,000 people with the same idea as you. To stroll through as many of the streets as possible (you just cannot see it all in one day) and find the true treasures amongst all the stalls. This is true spoiling for choice and your senses will be overwhelmed, but what an experience.
Within its walls lies restaurants, cafes, mosques, four fountains, hamams as well as the high domed hall of Cevahir Bedesten where the antiques of the old world are stored and on display. Amongst the treasures you’ll see weapons, amber prayer beads, gold and silver jewellery, copperware, old coins and furniture.
It doesn’t compare with anything! Being one of the world’s largest markets, you can easily get lost in the maze of cobbled streets and passageways with curved ceilings and intricately painted interiors. This is been a crucial trading centre since 1461 and there are demarcated sections for everything under the sun. All goods will lure you into their corners and if not, the vendor will intercept you in true market fashion and ask which country you’re from.
Turkish rug owners are everywhere and they will offer you in for a cup of apple tea. It is rude not to accept the tea and this may be the one time you get to rest your weary feet, listen to their tales of what really goes into carpet making before deciding if you really want to lug a rug home. Weaving of carpets is one of Turkey’s most ancient crafts and together with embroidery was used to fashion clothing, headscarves and furnishings for royalty and the country’s citizens.
I found myself drawn to the lanterns with their mosaic of colours and glass pieced together to display light. I spent the longest time in the jewellery section, trying on turquoise rings, eyeing delicate necklaces made from precious stones and gold earrings that hung heavily with ornate design and colours. I had never tried belly dancing, but desperately wanted to own a beaded bra, Turkish vest, skirt, head band and hip band all decorated with imitation coins and beads just in case.
The roots of Turkish ceramics can be traced all the way to the 8th centuries where Iranian Seljuk art arrived in Anatolia when the Seljuks defeated the Byzantines. Cobalt blue, eggplant violet, turquoise and black tiles and ceramics appeared in all forms of architectures of mosques, palaces and tombs. Today you’ll find many vases, bowls and other ceramics with a distinct blue and white Iznik design stemming from the Ottoman period.
Best of all the spices will lead the way to the food stalls where you can forget the hagglers and feast on kebabs, wraps, dolmas and marinated beef on yoghurt-eggplant puree. Sit beneath hanging eggplant and peppers and watch the bustle of market go by. Welcome to the Grand Bazaar.
Food and Drink
This one probably comes as no surprise. Kebabs may have become a favourite late-night snack all over the world, but nowhere makes ‘em as good as Turkey. Juicy, smoky meat is shorn straight from the rotisserie, smothered in sauce, spiked with chilli and then topped with thick-cut chips. Haloumi is a great vego option.
You’ll find street-side stalls and restaurants selling late-night kebabs all over the city, from the tangled streets of Beyoglu to the tourist district over the Bosphoros. If you find yourself on Istiklal Caddesi (Istanbul’s chaotic shopping boulevard) in the wee hours of the morning, you should also grab some fresh mussels with lemon from the big vats lining the street (charged per shell).
I loved Istanbul, in my opinion it is one of the most underrated European cities and a must if you are looking for a break with culture, history, food and sightseeing.