DK Top 10 Istanbul

Table of Contents

Welcome to Istanbul

Exploring Istanbul

Top 10 Istanbul Highlights

Topkapı Palace

Haghia Sophia

Blue Mosque

Archaeological Museum

Grand Bazaar

Süleymaniye Mosque Complex

Kariye Mosque

Çemberlitaş Hammam

Dolmabahçe Palace

Bosphorus Cruise

The Top 10 of Everything

Moments in History

Places of Worship

Byzantine Monuments

Museums and Galleries

Off the Beaten Track

Culinary Highlights

Restaurants

Shops and Markets

Istanbul for Free

Festivals and Events

Istanbul Area by Area

Sultanahmet and the Old City

Bazaar Quarter and Eminönü

The Golden Horn, Fatih and Fener

Beyoğlu

The Bosphorus

Asian Istanbul and Princes’ Islands

Streetsmart

Getting Around

Practical Information

Places to Stay

Phrase Book

Maps

Acknowledgments

Copyright

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Clockwise from top: Haghia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern, Rumeli Hisarı Fortress, Eyüp Sultan Mosque, the Galata Tower and Golden Horn, Great Palace Mosaic Museum

WELCOME TO ISTANBUL

Istanbul is unique. No other city straddles two continents. No other city has been capital of two mighty empires. Its venerable churches, mosques and palaces do justice to its incredible past. This teeming metropolis of 15 million has a vibrant present, too, as a hotbed of the arts, and a shoppers’, clubbers’ and foodies’ paradise. With DK Eyewitness Top 10 Istanbul, it’s yours to explore.

Some of the best Istanbul moments happen on the water. Imagine hopping across the Bosphorus Strait for lunch in Asia; gazing out at the Sea of Marmara from the rooftop of your Sultanahmet hotel; or watching the mosque-filled skyline of the Old City unfold as you go up the Golden Horn on a ferry. On dry land, you’ll find Istanbul’s 20 districts full of contrasts. The ancient cathedral of Haghia Sophia is breathtaking; so is the Istanbul Modern gallery. Wander the back-streets of devout Fatih among bearded acolytes from the medreses by day; at night sip a cocktail in a chic rooftop bar in Beyoğlu, the heart of modern European Istanbul.

It isn’t just the Bosphorus that divides Istanbul. The Old City sits on a peninsula pointing at Asia. Here, Byzantine monuments, Ottoman mosques, historic markets such as the Grand Bazaar, and venerable hammams (Turkish baths) predominate. Across the Golden Horn in Galata and Beyoğlu, three million shoppers throng İstiklal Caddesi while bar and club hoppers head for Kadıköy, across the water.

Whether you’re visiting for a weekend or a week, our Top 10 guide brings together the best of everything the city has to offer, from Turkish cuisine to magnificent historic monuments. The guide has useful tips throughout, from seeking out what’s free to places off the beaten track plus eight, easy-to-follow itineraries, designed to tie together a clutch of sights in a short space of time. Add inspiring photography and detailed maps, and you’ve got the essential pocket-sized travel companion. Enjoy the book, and enjoy Istanbul.

Exploring Istanbul

With so much to see and do in this continent-straddling city, it’s sometimes hard to know where to begin. In order to help you make the most of your time, here are a few ideas for two and four days of sightseeing in Istanbul.

Two Days in Istanbul

Day 1

Morning

Admire the soaring dome and glittering mosaics of Haghia Sophia, then head off to explore the vast Blue Mosque.

Haghia Sophia’s massive dome is considered to be the epitome of Byzantine architecture.

Afternoon

Visit the sprawling Topkapı Palace, the nerve-centre of the Ottoman Empire, then relax in the Çemberlitaş.

Day 2

Morning

Explore the Archaeological Museum, full of artifacts from the Ottoman Empire’s former domains.

Afternoon

Stroll to the top of the Old City’s third hill to the Süleymaniye Mosque Complex, which offers views of the Bosphorus from its terrace. Then head back down to the bustling Grand Bazaar to weave through its 4,000 shops.

Four Days in Istanbul

Day 1

Morning

Spend most of the morning in Haghia Sophia, the Byzantine cathedral-turned-mosque, before descending into the eerie depths of the Basilica Cistern.

Afternoon

Catch a ferry up the Golden Horn to Ayvansaray and walk the Theodosian Walls to the fresco-filled Kariye Mosque. Recover in the steaming Çemberlitaş Hammam.

Day 2

Morning

Start fresh in the airy courtyards and pavilions of the Topkapı Palace before walking across Sultanahmet Meydan park to the nearby Blue Mosque. Lunch in a tradesman’s café in the Grand Bazaar.

Afternoon

After exploring the bazaar, walk up to Süleymaniye Mosque Complex then down to the Spice Bazaar and Eminönü waterfront. Lunch on a fish sandwich by Galata Bridge.

Day 3

Morning

Enjoy the splendours of the Archaeological Museum before taking a tram across the Golden Horn to Kabataş, then a cab or bus to the opulent, Baroque-style Dolmabahçe Palace, home to the later Ottoman sultans.

Dolmabahçe Palace’s 19th-century clock tower stands on a square along the European waterfront of the Bosphorus.

Afternoon

After exploring Dolmabahçe Palace, take a cab up to Taksim Square. Walk down the city’s premier shopping and entertainment street, İstiklal Caddesi, and enjoy a meal at a lively meyhane (tavern) on Nevizade Sokak (see Refik).

Day 4

All day

Around 10:30am, depart from the Eminönü ferry pier on the all-day Bosphorus Cruise. Enjoy fantastic views of the city’s shoreline before lingering over a fish lunch in Anadolu Kavağı.

The bustling Eminönü ferry pier viewed from the Galata Bridge.

Top 10 Istanbul Highlights

The monumental Byzantine mosque of Haghia Sophia

Top 10 Istanbul Highlights

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TOPKAPI PALACE

Fresh from his conquest of Constantinople, Mehmet II built Topkapı Sarayı as his main residence between 1460 and 1478. He planned it as a series of pavilions in four courtyards – a tribute in stone to the tent encampments of his nomadic forebears. For 400 years, Mehmet’s palace was the seat of government, and had a college for training officials and soldiers. While government moved across the road to the Sublime Porte in the 16th century, Topkapı remained the sultan’s palace until Abdül Mecit I moved to Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856.

NEED TO KNOW

prac_info Babıhümayun Cad • (0212) 512 04 80

prac_info Palace: open mid-Apr–Sep: 9am–7pm Wed–Mon, Oct–mid-Apr: 9am–5pm Wed–Mon; adm ₺60

prac_info Harem: open Apr–Oct: 9am–7pm Wed–Mon, Nov–Mar: 9am–4:30pm Wed–Mon; adm ₺40

prac_info Haghia Eirene: open mid-Apr–Sep: 9am–7pm daily, Oct–mid-Apr: 9am–5pm daily; adm ₺30

Google Map

Expect long queues at the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle and Treasury.

There is a restaurant, Karakol, in the first courtyard, and another, Konyalı, in the fourth. Book tables in advance by calling at (0212) 514 94 94 and (0212) 513 96 96 respectively. Konyalı is good to try Ottoman court cuisine, but can be crowded.

Topkapı Palace

The picturesque Topkapı Palace

1. Imperial Gate (

Bâb-ı

Hümayun)

Built in 1478, this gate is the main entrance to the palace. Gatekeepers’ quarters are on either side. An apartment belonging to Mehmet II above the gate was destroyed by fire in 1866.

2. Harem

A maze of rooms and corridors, the Harem was a closed world occupied by the sultan’s wives, concubines and children.

3. First Courtyard (Alay Meydanı)

This vast outer courtyard takes in Gülhane Park, Sirkeci, the church of Haghia Eirene (Aya İrini Kilisesi) and the imposing Archaeological Museum.

4. Gate of Salutations (Bâb-üs Selâm)

At this elaborate gate, built in 1524, visitors were greeted, and high officials who had upset the sultan were arrested and beheaded. The gateway leads into the Second Courtyard (Divan Meydanı), where the Treasury now has a magnificent display of arms and armour.

The imposing Gate of Salutations

5. Kitchens

These huge kitchens once catered for 1,000 people a day. On display is a collection of ceramics, crystal and silver, including the Chinese celadon ware (green ware) favoured by early sultans.

From the Chinese celadon collection

6. Throne Room (Arz Odası)

In the Throne Room, the Sultan consulted his ministers and governors, welcomed ambassadors and other dignitaries, and hosted smaller state occasions.

The elaborate Throne Room

7. Third Courtyard (Enderûn Meydanı)

The Gate of Felicity (Bâb-üş Saadet) leads to the Third Courtyard, containing the sultan’s private quarters and those of the Harem’s white eunuchs.

8. Imperial Wardrobe (Seferli Koğuşu)

The Imperial Wardrobe houses the costume museum, a collection of some 3,000 royal robes. Look out for the gold-plated inscriptions above the entrance.

9. Treasury (Hazine Koğuşu)

With exhibits including the jewel-encrusted Topkapı Dagger and the amazing 86-carat Spoonmaker’s Diamond, the Treasury may be the most ostentatious collection of wealth ever gathered outside of the legendary Aladdin’s cave.

Spoonmaker’s Diamond from the Treasury

10. Imperial Sofa (Sofa-ı-Hümayun)

The Imperial Sofa was a place to relax, its gardens studded with pavilions built by successive sultans. The finest is the Baghdad Pavilion (Bağdat Köşkü).

The Baghdad Pavilion, Topkapi Palace

RELIGIOUS RELICS

The Pavilion of the Holy Mantle (Has Oda Koğuşu) contains some of Islam’s holiest relics. Exhibits include hairs from the Prophet’s beard, one of his teeth, two of his swords and the sacred standard used during his military campaigns. The most important relic of all is the Holy Mantle, a plain black camel-hair cloak that the Prophet gave as a present to a poet. Once a year, it was displayed to high officials then doused in water; the drops squeezed from it were sent out as talismans against the plague.

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Features of the Topkapı Harem

1. Barracks of the Black Eunuchs

Apart from the sultan and his sons, the only men allowed into the Harem were the African eunuchs, up to 200 enslaved people from Sudan and Ethiopia. Their barracks lie on one side of the Courtyard of the Black Eunuchs, with its arcade of marble columns.

2. Courtyard of the Concubines

This colonnaded courtyard lies beside the Harem Baths. As many as 300 concubines lived in the Harem at any one time.

Courtyard of the Concubines

3. Golden Cage

Mehmet III became sultan in 1595, following the murder of all but one of his 19 brothers. After that, heirs to the throne were kept in the Golden Cage, a secure area of the Harem, until they were needed. As a result, many were weak and ill-fitted for rule when they took the throne.

4. Wives’ Apartments

The sultan’s wives (under Islamic law, he was allowed four) also had their own apartments. While wives took formal precedence in the Harem hierarchy, the real power lay with the sultan’s favourites and mother. Occasionally, a sultan would marry a concubine – as in the case of Süleyman I, who married his beloved Roxelana (known thereafter as Haseki Hürrem).

5. Salon of the Valide Sultan

The valide sultan (sultan’s mother) was by far the most powerful woman