Istanbul Will Remain as a Great World Destination

Istanbul is one of the world's great destinations with history, culture, and enough unique and sites and activities to keep busy for a three to five-day visit. At times over the past decade, political turmoil in Turkey and terrorism concerns in the region made the city 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 as a special place for people from east and west to enjoy and transact business.

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 long after Rome fell and Europe collapsed as the powerful center of a Byzantine Empire.

Byzantines and Ottoman Empires

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. Perhaps the most unusual invaders were Crusaders from western Europe who viewed the eastern Christian churches as heretical. They plundered Byzantine treasures and cities en route 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 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.

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:

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. In recent years, the building was open as a museum that combined elements from the many religions and empires based in the city over the past 1500 years but there are efforts to reestablish the mosque as the dominant activity in the building.

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 plundered treasures of the empire are on display; and the Throne Room, where the sultan would receive dignitaries or meet with advisors.

Grand Bazaar: The most visited attraction in Istanbul is the Grand Bazaar. This collection of more than 3000 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 91 million annual visitors. Although short on some of the amenities 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.

Blue Mosque and Other Sites: There are numerous other 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 of 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 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.

Tips for Visiting Istanbul:

Where to Stay:

There are some grand hotels in Istanbul such as the Four Seasons along the Bosphoros. On several occasions when traveling through Turkey, we have stayed at the Sirkeci Hotel in the Old City. This affordable hotel provides an excellent room with pleasant amenities in a location from which you can walk to most sites or hop on the tram at the end of the street. Sirkeci provides shuttle service to the airport as well as a free rooftop dinner to guests staying for at least three nights.

When to Go:

Istanbul can be cool and rainy in the winter from December to March, but the weather is quite pleasant during the rest of the year. While temperatures can exceed 85 in the summer, the breezes from the surrounding waters keep things cool during most of the day.

How to Get There:

Turkish Airlines has a very modern and respected fleet and provides daily direct flights from JFK to Istanbul and one from Boston which each take about 10 hours. American carriers fly there from New York with short stops in London and Paris.