There are older buildings in Istanbul and there are larger ones, but nothing else in the city holds attention quite like Hagia Sophia. Part of it is the age — fifteen centuries — and part is the light, which comes in through forty windows at the base of the dome and makes the whole ceiling […]

Between Hagia Sophia and the palace wall there is a cobbled lane that most visitors walk past without noticing. Sogukcesme Street is two hundred metres of restored wooden houses, painted in ochre and dusty pink, with no cars and almost no sound. The houses date from the nineteenth century and were built for people working […]

Going down the steps into the Basilica Cistern is the closest thing Istanbul has to changing worlds in thirty seconds. Above is the noise of Sultanahmet; below, a forest of columns, shallow water, and the sound of drops falling into it. The cistern was built under Justinian in the sixth century and held water for […]

Most visitors come to Topkapi for the treasury and leave remembering the views. The palace sits on the point where the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara meet, and the terraces at its eastern edge look straight down over all three. Inside, the sequence of four courtyards is the thing to follow. […]

Gulhane Park is the quietest green space in the old city, and the reason is historical: it was the private garden of Topkapi Palace until 1912, screened from the streets by the same wall that still runs along its eastern side. It is a good place to slow down. The main avenue is shaded by […]

Ahmed I built the Blue Mosque and did not live long enough to see it settle. He died in 1617 at twenty-seven, a year after completion, and was buried in a domed tomb at the corner of his own complex. The interior is quieter than anything else in Sultanahmet. Iznik tiles cover the walls, light […]

Most people walk past the Fountain of Ahmed III on their way to Topkapi without stopping, which is a small loss. Built in 1728, it is one of the most decorated structures in the old city and looks nothing like the mosques around it. Wide overhanging eaves, painted floral panels, tulip motifs and soft curves […]

When the Ottoman court decided Topkapi looked old-fashioned, it built Dolmabahce. Finished in 1856 on the shore of the Bosphorus, it was meant to say that the empire belonged in Europe, and every surface argues the case. Fourteen tonnes of gold on the ceilings, a Baccarat crystal staircase, and in the ceremonial hall a chandelier […]

Six minarets, a cascade of half-domes and twenty thousand blue-green tiles: the Sultan Ahmed Mosque is the building most people picture when they picture Istanbul. It was completed in 1617 and has been in continuous use as a mosque ever since. The tiles that give it its nickname come from Iznik and cover the upper […]

Between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque lies a long, narrow park that most people cross without realising what it was. This is the site of the Hippodrome, where Byzantine Constantinople came to watch chariot races and where, in 532, a riot that began in the stands nearly ended an empire. Three monuments remain along […]

Of all the museums in the old city, this is the one that stays quiet. The Istanbul Archaeological Museums sit next to Topkapi and hold over a million objects, yet queues almost never form at the door. Go for the Alexander Sarcophagus. Carved in Sidon in the fourth century BC, its battle reliefs still carry […]