Over the past twenty-five years, The Traveling American has visited over one hundred cities around the world. This article focuses on one of the best cities we have visited outside of the United States and Canada. The task of naming the Top Ten World Cities was a difficult one and we considered an initial list of twenty-five places. We then selected twelve cities (there were a few ties) that we believe are the most interesting to see for our Top Ten list. 

HERE IS ISTANBUL, TURKEY WHICH WE NAMED AS THE WORLD'S NUMBER 5 CITY 

Istanbul is one of the world's great destinations with history, culture, and enough unique sites and activities to keep travelers busy for a three to five-day visit. At times over the past decade, political turmoil in the region made Turkey a difficult place for tourists to visit, but those concerns have abated. Based on the resilience of this metropolis of 17 million people over the past 1700 years, Istanbul will remain a special place for people from east and west to enjoy a trip or transact business.

A Place with a Complex History

One of the most interesting characteristics of Istanbul is the City’s complex history. Emperor Constantine dedicated the village of Byzantium in 330 AD as the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and as the seat of the Christian world. Constantinople, as it became known, flourished as the powerful center of a Byzantine Empire long after Rome fell and Europe collapsed. There were many ups and downs for the Byzantine Empire which gained and lost territory to Persian, Arab, Bulgarian, Turkish, and Mongol kingdoms and invaders over the next thousand years. The most unusual invaders were Crusaders from western Europe who viewed the eastern Christian churches as heretical. They plundered some Byzantine treasures and cities enroute to the Holy Land during the first three crusades, and even captured Constantinople for a time during the Fourth Crusade. Nevertheless, the Byzantine Empire survived in a diminished form until Constantinople itself was conquered by Mehmet the Great, the leader of the Ottoman Turks, and renamed as Istanbul after a famous siege in 1453.

The Ottoman sultans created their own empire which ruled much of eastern Europe and the Mediterranean from an ornate palace in Istanbul for hundreds of years until World War I. Respected general Mustafa Kemal, now known as Ataturk, and a national assembly abolished the monarchy and the Ottoman caliphate in 1923, expelled foreign troops, and formed modern Turkey as a republic based on the European model of a constitutional and secular state. Turkey has established a modern and growing economy and continue to attract world tourists.

Things to Experience in Istanbul

Most of Istanbul’s historic sites are readily accessible by a convenient tram or ferry ride in the Old City known as Sultanahmet, while the offices and nightlife are concentrated across the water in the Galata and Beyoglu sections of the city. Some of the principal sites and things to do in Istanbul are:

Topkapi Palace: Located on top of a hill on Seraglio Point in the Old City is the Topkapi Palace built by Suleyman the Magnificent in the late 1500s. This ornate palace served as the royal residence, a fort, and the governmental center of the Ottoman Empire until a later sultan built a more European style Dolmabahce Palace across the water. Visitors flock to see the Harem, where the wives and concubines of the sultan and his sons lived in luxury amidst fountains and courtyards; the Treasury, where the remaining jewels, gold and treasures of the empire are on display; and the Throne Room, where the sultan would receive dignitaries or meet with advisors.

Haghia Sophia: Many people start their tour of Istanbul with a visit to the Haghia Sophia, a magnificent church built with a 200-foot-high dome and Christian mosaics that was dedicated by Roman Emperor Justinian in 536 AD. After the Ottoman conquest of the city in the 15th century, the building was converted into a mosque and engraved with phrases from the Koran. For most of the 20th century, the building was open as a museum, but a controversial court decision in 2020 removed the building’s status as a museum and reestablished the mosque as the dominant activity in the building.

Grand Bazaar and Galata Shopping: The most visited attraction in Istanbul is the Grand Bazaar. This collection of more than three thousand shops under one roof has existed since the conquest of Constantinople in 1455. For centuries thereafter, caravans from the east and ships from the Mediterranean flooded the Bazaar with goods. Today, more than 250,000 people visit the Bazaar each day and some sources consider it to be the world's No. 1 attraction with ninety-one million annual visitors. Although short on the amenities commonly found in western malls such as restaurants, bathrooms and amusements, there is no shortage of goods. Entire blocks of shops offer carpets, antiques, jewels, gold and silver, fabrics, leather goods, clothes, souvenirs, and luxury goods. The best approach to enjoying the Bazaar is to go in with one or two items in mind such as a leather briefcase or a copper tea set, and then concentrate on comparing samples of that item in several shops before negotiating a sizable discount from the offered price. 

For a more relaxed shopping and entertainment environment, locals and visitors flock to the Beyoglu section of the city, which was inhabited originally by European diplomats and traders. The main attractions there are on a mile long pedestrian street known as the Istiklal Caddesi which runs from Taksim Square to the Tunel cable car station. This area has shops with all kinds of products, restaurants, cinemas, live music venues and cafes. It is a friendly and relaxed area where crowds walk on cobblestone streets or ride on an electric tram to sample the nightlife of the city.

Blue Mosque and Other Sites: There are numerous sites in Old Istanbul worth a visit. The 17th century Blue Mosque, located across a park from Haghia Sophia, is another architectural wonder. Its six minarets, engraved domes and elaborate blue tiles encourage comparisons to the Taj Mahal. Nearby under the street are the immense Basilica Cistern and the Cistern of 1000 Columns which stored all the old city’s water for a thousand today. Finally, the Museum of Archaeology located within the outer gates of Topkapi Palace has a wide variety of artifacts ranging from Roman statues to antiquities from Ottoman conquests.

Bosphorus Cruise: The Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are connected by several narrow waterways including a 20-mile-long channel known as the Bosphorus Strait. Istanbul is strategically located on both the European and Asian banks of the Bosphorus. Hundreds of ferries bring people back and forth across the channel or travel north to the Black Sea passing by waterfront villas, fishing villages and the fortresses that once guarded the city from invaders. Meanwhile, cargo ships, military vessels and pleasure boats also ply the waters. A three-hour cruise along the Bosphorus Strait on the Turkish Maritime Lines from Eminonu provides excellent views of the city and these local sites and ends at the amazingly blue waters of the Black Sea.

Shopping and Dining: 

Turkish Bath: Any visitor to Turkey should consider visiting a Turkish bath for an hour or two. The tradition of public bathing dates to the Roman world where emperors and leading citizens built elaborate baths for use by the nobility and the plebes. Centuries later, the Seljuk Turks from Central Asia and devout Muslims from Arabia developed their own traditions of cleansing and ritual bathing. All these practices came together when the Turks conquered Constantinople in the 15th century and began building Turkish baths throughout their new empire. During the many centuries of Ottoman rule an estimated 20,000 baths were established and hundreds of those locations are still used today. In modern Turkish culture, the baths also serve as a social center for friends to get together, relax and share stories. 

For a traditional experience in a clean and professional environment, people in Istanbul often visit the Cagaloglu Hamam. Like most establishments, Cagaloglu has separate male and female facilities where you are greeted, shown to a private changing room, and provided with sandals and a towel to wear along with cold drinks or tea. Upon entering the bath, the first step is to be doused with hot water and enter the steam room to sweat and prepare for cleansing. This is done by lying or sitting on a large marble slab in the center of the room along with other bathers. Then your assigned masseuse will exfoliate your entire body with incredible strength while usually using large mitts on both hands. Next you will be scrubbed and soaped up with tons of suds before your fingers and toes, arms and legs, neck and back will be cleaned and massaged. You will then generally be moved to a seat in one of several small chambers surrounding the slab and cooled down with buckets of water. After passing through a shower room, you return to your dressing room totally refreshed.