Istanbul from the first sight is a very beautiful city to be in, but it is so big that you do not know where to go first. You can go hours lost on the vast streets wanting to find something to take a picture of, something to look and admire, but you don’t have any indications on where to do exactly that.
Well, worry no more, as we are going to get the effort of searching for touristically attractive destinations off your shoulders and do it ourselves for you!
So let’s start!
1 – Basillica Cistern
The huge city’s most surprisingly romantic touristic attraction, the Basilica Cistern, offers a sight into the complex system that once brought potable water into Istanbul from Thrace (a part of the south-east Balkans now being a Turkish land and the European mainland, and a chunk of the south parts of Bulgaria). Built in the sixth century and then forgotten for centuries, the cistern what once stored the water now has been fitted with lights and music. Cute small little fish float around the bases of the 335 columns that hold the ceiling on their arms. Don’t miss the upside-down statue of the head of Medusa that forms the bottom of one column, a proof that Byzantine engineers saw Roman relics as little more than re-usable rubble.
2 – Topkap? Palace
If there is one place that you absolutely must visit in Istanbul, it has to be the big Topkapi Palace, home to generations of sultans and their wives, who were kept in the famous harem. A collection of lush green courtyards and beautiful kiosks, the Topkapi city displays a treasure to put the crown jewels in the shade, as well as sights to die for over the Sea of Marmara, Bosphorus plus Golden Horn. The secretive harem – really just the family quarters – is a warren of lushly-tiled rooms wrapped round a gem of a Turkish bath. Try to visit on a day when no cruise ship is in town to avoid the worst of the crowds.
3 – Blue Mosque
Located in front of the Aya Sofya across a small park and reflecting its domed silhouette, the start of the 17th-century Blue Mosque is one of only a few of mosques in the world to boast six big minarets. Is it really blue? Well, not noticeably, although all the walls are papered with fine ?znik tiles. To view it as the architect, Sedefkar Mehmed Aga, originally intended, enter via what looks like the side entrance from the Hippodrome. Afterwards, pop your head into a building the size of a small mosque on the corner of the complex. This houses the tomb of Sultan Ahmed I, the man who gave his name to both the mosque and the neighbourhood.
4 – One of the huge malls in the city
There are alot of malls in the huge city of Istanbul that you can visit. When you have finished visiting the touristical attractions around the city, then you can go for a long and enjoyable shopping session in either Bak?rkoy Galleria or Zeytinburnu’s Olivium.
Thanks for the read and see you later!
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