Insight Guides: Explore Istanbul

How To Use This E-Book

This Explore Guide has been produced by the editors of Insight Guides, whose books have set the standard for visual travel guides since 1970. With top-quality photography and authoritative recommendations, these guidebooks bring you the very best routes and itineraries in the worlds most exciting destinations.

Best Routes

The routes in this book provide something to suit all budgets, tastes and trip lengths. As well as covering the destinations many classic attractions, the itineraries track lesser-known sights, and there are also excursions for those who want to extend their visit outside the city. The routes embrace a range of interests, so whether you are an art fan, a gourmet, a history buff or have kids to entertain, you will find an option to suit.

We recommend reading the whole of a route before setting out. This should help you to familiarise yourself with it and enable you to plan where to stop for refreshments options are shown in the Food and Drink box at the end of each tour.

Introduction

The routes are set in context by this introductory section, giving an overview of the destination to set the scene, plus background information on food and drink, shopping and more, while a succinct history timeline highlights the key events over the centuries.

Directory

Also supporting the routes is a Directory chapter, with a clearly organised AZ of practical information, our pick of where to stay while you are there and select restaurant listings; these eateries complement the more low-key cafs and restaurants that feature within the routes and are intended to offer a wider choice for evening dining. Also included here are some nightlife listings, plus a handy language guide and our recommendations for books and films about the destination.

Getting around the e-book

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights mentioned in the text are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of the destination. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

2013 Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Table of Contents

Recommended Routes For...

ANCIENT REMAINS

Explore the citys Roman and Byzantine heritage at the Museum of Archaeology ().

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

ESCAPING THE CROWDS

Take time out at the Pierre Loti Teahouse in Eyp ().

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

NIGHT OWLS

For good times after dark, head for the bohemian bars of Tnel ().

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

OTTOMAN ATMOSPHERE

Admire the masterpieces of Sinan, the greatest Ottoman architect, such as the Sleymaniye Mosque ().

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

PAMPERING

Relax after a busy day of sightseeing with a long hot soak, a brisk rub down and an oil massage at emberlita Hamam ().

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

SHOPAHOLICS

Haggle your heart out in the Grand Bazaar ().

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE

Watch the Sufi mystics whirl away at the Galata Dervish Lodge ().

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

VILLAGE LIFE

Experience another side of stanbul life in the tranquil Bosphorus villages of Ortaky ().

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

Turkey's famous ceramic tiles

Marcus Wilson Smith/Apa Publications

Explore Istanbul

The gateway to Asia, stanbul is Europes largest and most exotic city. Containing remnants of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, the city mixes centuries-old mosques and bazaars with air-conditioned shopping malls.

Hagia Sophia mosque

Rebecca Erol/Apa Publications

If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on stanbul, wrote the French statesman and poet Alphonse de Lamartine after a visit to the city in 1833. He was one of many 19th-century Western travellers beguiled by stanbuls intriguing oriental culture, magical architecture and sublime natural topography of undulating hills cut through by the sparkling blue Bosphorus (Boazii).

Lamartine was not the first and by no means the last to be taken by this city poised on Europes far eastern and Asias far western edges. Hotly fought over for centuries by various invading forces, its the only city in the world that has been the capital of both a Christian and an Islamic empire.

Here, where the Black Sea blends into the Aegean, East and West mingle and merge in the cultural melting pot of Turkeys largest metropolis. There are busy oriental bazaars, towering malls and designer-fashion boutiques; traditional kebab shops and meyhanes ( meze and fish taverns) sit alongside chic bars and nightclubs; offices and hotels alternate with Ottoman minarets along the citys skyline.