Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city and cultural and financial center, is among the most ancient cities of the world. With a rich, long and varied history, many areas of Istanbul have been declared World Heritage Sites under UNESCO. Istanbul also happens to be a favored destination for conferences and art and music organizations.
Istanbul Highlights:
Topkapi Palace: Was home to the Ottoman sultans who ruled Istanbul over a period of four centuries. Visitors can walk through the Harem, look through the palace attire and garments on display, and take a look at miniatures and the guns and armory of old times.
Hagia Eirene Church: Is believed to have been founded by Constantine the Great. The The church has some interesting features quite unlike the other ones found in Istanbul. The apse has a large mosaic of a black Cross on gold background belonging to the 8th century.
Hagia Sophia: Formerly the Church of Holy Wisdom, this is now a museum. This celebrated monument depicts Byzantine architecture.
Princes’ Islands: Locally-known as the Kızıl Adalar, it is a chain of four large islands - Buyukada, Heybeliada, Kınalıada, Sedef Adası. With horse-drawn carriages and elegant mansions covered in purple bougainvillea, it is like taking a walk in the past. The regional cuisine here is quite famous and worth a try.
Golden Horn: Locally-known as Halic, it actually stands for the ‘Bay of Istanbul’. The name coined by westerners has nothing to do with either horns or with gold. It is actually a short river connecting two cities in old Istanbul. A boat trip on this river will take you through one of the world’s finest natural harbors.
Aqueduct Of Valens: This limestone structure is one of the most distinctive landmarks in Istanbul. Towering majestically over the traffic on the busy Ataturk Bulvarı, visitors are known to gasp in amazement when they see it for the first time.
While other Istanbul hotels emphasize the city’s ties to antiquity, Witt Istanbul Suites is every inch the ultra-modern contemporary-design boutique hotel. Formerly an ad agency HQ, it’s close by to the central business district, as well as some of the best shopping, dining and nightlife in this modern quarter — and Roka, the g ...
In this enormous city the prevailing trend in hospitality seems, oddly enough, to be something along the lines of “smaller is better.” And who are we to argue? We’ve got nothing against the big boys, but when you can provide top-shelf service and world-class style in a smaller, more intimate hotel, you’re on to something ...
Swissôtel The Bosphorus, Istanbul, as a member of the Leading Hotels of the World and in Conde Nast Traveler Gold List 2011, is a 5-star luxury hotel right in the centre of Istanbul, on the European banks of the Bosphorus, within 65 acres of historical gardens.
Swissotel The Bosphorus, Istanbul is offering you a new lifestyl ...
“Rooms” more or less sums it up — there’s not much to Karakoy Rooms aside from the accommodations, but we think you’ll agree that with rooms like these, it’s hard to imagine wanting more. Especially in this neighborhood, just down the hill from the Galata Tower; just like so many Parisian hotels, Karaköy ...
The second of the Istanbul-based House hotels, and big sister to the Galatasaray establishment, the House Hotel Nisantasi is perhaps the slightly glossier and more modern of the two. The design, by the very same Autoban Design Group, is another modern classic in neutral tones, occupying a grey area somewhere between a high-design boutique hotel ...
To a first-timer, the great surprise about Istanbul is how urbane, how sophisticated, how cosmopolitan a city it is. For every potentially exotic ancient landmark or Ottoman flourish there’s something like the Georges Hotel to balance it out. This stylishly refurbished guest house in the bustling Galata district, with its views of the Bosp ...
The design hotel is alive and well on the shores of the Bosphorus, where the Autoban design partnership mixes ancient Ottoman influences with the clean lines and luxe materials of contemporary European practice. The third in their House Hotel series stands near the site of the owners’ original House Café, the establishment that inau ...
Location’s not quite everything, but it’s certainly not unimportant either; and in Istanbul one could do quite a lot worse for a location than this. The Amira Hotel is deep, deep in the Sultanahmet, the historical heart of the city, around back of the Blue Mosque. This is where you expect to find some tourist trap charging an extorti ...
Some cities are compact and manageable, the kinds of places you can easily get your head around on just one visit. Istanbul is not one of these. It’s sprawling, chaotic, and ever-changing — so a hotel like The Sofa Istanbul is doubly welcome. Not just because it’s a chic and luxurious little boutique hotel, exactly the sort we& ...
It’s deep in the Sultanahmet, surrounded by all of Istanbul’s major sights, as well as all the usual tourist traps you expect from this heavily traveled district; but the Hotel Ibrahim Pasha is a breath of contemporary fresh air. And though it’s named for the neighborhood’s most famous resident, the Grand Vizier to Sultan ...
Football fans may know Istanbul’s Galatasaray district as the home of one of the world’s most intimidating sporting venues. From a hospitality perspective, however, this district could scarcely be more welcoming — especially now that the owners of the locally based House café concern have expanded into the guest-house bu ...
If there’s a better symbol of the assimilation of the boutique hotel into the hospitality mainstream than the EDITION luxury hotels, fruit of Ian Schrager’s partnership with Marriott, we don’t know what it could possibly be. And while some may miss the elusive thrill of being in on a secret, it’s hard to see the spread of ...
And not just any water either; Sumahan on the Water sits on the Asian bank of the Bosphorus, in an upscale residential neighborhood full of vacation homes, looking across the strait at the city skyline over on the European side of Istanbul. The unobstructed view is what it’s all about — the hotel sits right up against the water&rsquo ...
Even the most jaded of travelers can’t help but be struck by the contrast between the ancient city of Istanbul and the ever so modern A’jia. Here, on the Asian side of town, on the quiet eastern shore of the Bosphorus, a 19th-century governor’s mansion has been given a makeover — behind its classic Ottoman facade it&rsquo ...
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