Basilica Cistern

Museum in a restored building that was the stables for Topkapı Palace. It exhibits various instruments for astronomy, clocks, pumps, weaponry and so on developed in Islamic realms down the centuries, but these are modern repro, and explanations of their context are skimpy. Islamic science and technology preceded that of Europe, as they insist, but they get the tone wrong, as if that was the triumphal culmination rather than the springboard for further advance.

Started in 1613 by the Ottoman sultan Ahmet I (r. 1603–1617, who also had the Blue Mosque in the Old City built), and extensively renovated by the art-loving Selim III (r. 1789–1807), this sole building, which itself has the distinction of being the only intact structure that dates back to the rule of Ahmet III (r. 1703–1730), set inside a beautiful garden of pools and mature cedar and magnolia trees is the only remaining part of what was once the fourth largest palatial complex in Istanbul, extending all the way to the banks of the Golden Horn (which is now occupied by the derelict buildings of the closed shipyard, which also block part of the view towards the shore). According to the local rumour, its name (which in Turkish means "mirrored poplar") derives from the now absent mirrors gifted by Venice to the palace that were presumably "as tall as the poplars" (aynalar kavak). The highly decorative and colourful interior includes several rooms of original furnitures fit for a sultan, some of which are covered with nacre, and walls embellished with Ottoman poems praising the palace and Selim III. Downstairs is a small museum dedicated to music, which exhibit some of the instruments (violins, ouds, and kamanchehs) and gramophone records owned by Fatma Gevheri Sultana (1904–1980), the granddaughter of Abdülaziz I (r. 1861–1876). While you are outside, also check out the old main entrance (now closed) towards the Golden Horn, topped by a dome. Worth the half hour spent there.

A remarkable Bulgarian Orthodox church better known as Demir Kilise, "Iron Church", as it's a cast iron prefab. The Bulgarians split from the Greek Orthodox and established their own wooden church in 1870, which burned down. The ground was too weak for a masonry or concrete structure so they opted for cast iron. The sections were cast in Vienna, shipped here and assembled, to open in 1898. The church was renovated in 2018, but the archpatriarchate building across the street remains a gaunt shell.

This is a 1927 Beaux Arts building named after its patron Süreyya İlmen Pasha, then a deputy of Istanbul who was impressed by theatres in Europe during his visits. It became the first opera house in the Asian side of Istanbul, but due to deficiencies in its interior design, it barely staged any opera and was converted to a cinema soon afterwards. It underwent a significant restoration and reverted to its original purpose in 2007, so now houses performances of ballet, opera, and classical music; good tickets are often extremely cheap.

This lavish palace with 285 rooms and 43 halls was the admin centre for the Ottoman Empire in its last 60 years. The palace government block (Selamlık) includes the Imperial Mabeyn (State Apartments) and Muayede Hall (Ceremonial Hall), while the Imperial Harem was the sultan's private quarters. Also here are the Painting Gallery, Music Museum, Clock Museum and Museum of Palace Collections. Free audio guide in several languages available by the ticket office. No photography inside, no backpacks but you can leave them in the cloakroom. Allow 3 hours to see everything.

Feshane began as a factory producing fezzes (fes), the red hats made of felt adopted by the Ottomans in the early 19th century as a part of westernizing efforts in lieu of much more traditional turbans. However, the fez was scrapped in favour of western garments during Atatürk's reforms of the 1920s and 30s as it was thought to symbolize the old, decidedly oriental regime. A restoration in 1998 made it a cultural and exhibition center, and after another in 2023, it was reopened as a culture and art center under the name Artistanbul Feshane.

The "Polish village" was founded in 1842 by Polish settlers in the wake of the failed uprising against Russian Imperial rule, and reinforced by more settlers after every subsequent civil upheaval until Poland's independence in 1918. Most then returned, but several stayed on, adopting Turkish citizenship but maintaining their Polish language and culture. The village has houses in traditional Polish style, a 1914 little Catholic chapel, and the Church of Matka Boska Częstochowska. It's set in woodland (a nature park) and is a popular day-trip from the city. There's four restaurants and half a dozen small hotels, plus more of each in nearby Beykoz.

A former synagogue, the museum's exhibit details how the cultures mixed with and influenced each other in the past 500+ years since the Spanish expulsion.

On top of a hill overlooking the Golden Horn, this is a magnificent mosque built by Sinan in the 1550s. It was centrepiece of a large külliye, a religious complex which included madrasas, a public kitchen and a hospital.. The small cemetery east has the mausoleums of Suleiman the Magnificent and of his wife Hurrem Sultan or Roxelana.

Built in first half of the 15th century, this is the large medieval castle under the Second Bosphorus Bridge. Its former name Boğazkesen (Turkish)/Laimokopia (Greek) means both "strait-blocker" and "throat-cutter" in both languages and denotes the reason of its building—to shut the supply routes from the Black Sea in the north into the slowly falling apart Byzantine Empire through the Bosphorus. Rumeli, literally "the Roman land", was the name of the European half of the Ottoman Empire, and as is usual with some other structures and villages along the Bosphorus, used as a prefix to differentiate Rumeli Hisarı from its counterpart in the Asian Side, the much smaller Anadolu Hisarı just across the Bosphorus.

A historic house museum dedicated to the life of Adam Mickiewicz, renowned Polish poet. This is where he lived while in Turkey from September 1855 to 26 November 1855, when he died of illness.

The Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos ("All-Blessed Mother of God") was built between the 11th and 12th centuries. The parekklesion or side-chapel was added maybe 1300, with rich mosaics. The main building became a mosque in 1591, named for Sultan Murad III's conquest (fetih, hence Fethiye) of Georgia and Azerbaijan: the interior was opened up, but the chapel was undisturbed and in modern times became a museum. In 2020 the entire building was proclaimed a mosque, and every scrap of Byzantine artistry was covered up, so now there's nothing worth seeing.

A resort on the Marmara coast. It's the westernmost part of Istanbul, between Çatalca and the province of Tekirdağ. There are some remnants of the Anastasian wall here, the scrappy ruins of a castle, an ancient cistern, the Piri Paşa Mosque, and Uzunköprü the long aqueduct.

The third and grandest of the churches on this site, completed in 537 AD. The 30-m diameter dome covers what was for over 1000 years the largest enclosed space in the world, only surpassed in 1520 by Seville cathedral. It used "pendentive" architecture to throw the dome's weight onto four stout pillars, a design that inspired many Eastern Orthodox churches and Ottoman mosques. It became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453, remaining so until 1931. It was then a museum until 2020 when it was again proclaimed a mosque. That means you must work around prayer times and dress appropriately.

The Byzantines built several great palaces in Constantinople and this is the only one to survive almost intact. It's from the late 13th century, in typical alternating marble and red-brick rows, and was an imperial residence: Porphyrogenitus means "born to the purple" indicating the heir to the crown. Yet it was merely an annex or pavilion within the much greater Palace of Blachernae, of which nothing else remains. It's set within the north end of the Theodosian Walls and was much bashed during the Ottoman capture. Later it was variously a menagerie, brothel, pottery, poorhouse and bottle works, then fell derelict in the 20th century. In 2021 it re-opened as a museum.

This is a triple structure: the church of the Monastery of Pantokrator built 1118, then a public church circa 1136 plus a chapel that served as a royal mausoleum. It became a mosque and medresse in Ottoman times, but without massive alteration so it's a prime example of middle-Byzantine architecture. It's nowadays again a mosque, photogenic by day or dusk but the area should be avoided at night.

This is the main attraction around this part of the city. The holiest Islamic shrine in the city, the complex includes, right next to the mosque, the tomb of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari (Eyüp Ensari Türbesi), the standard bearer of Prophet Mohammad, died and buried here during the first Muslim siege of Constantinople (674-678 AD). The neighbourhood was named after him. Muslims flock here (in such huge numbers that sometimes you have to queue for a few minutes before entering the tomb) also to see a rather uninteresting plaque made of plastic, which is purported to be Mohammad's footprint. The interior of the tomb, covered with fine tiles/faience, is nonetheless well worth a look, however. It is also interesting to see the devout Muslims leaving the place by walking backwards through its exit hallway, as not to turn their backs to al-Ansari's catafalque, though obviously no one expects everyone to quit the place in the same manner.

If you are already in the area, it's worth considering to visit this waterside neo-Baroque manor, built in the 19th century for the countryside and hunting excursions of the Ottoman dynasty. The area, where the Göksu River flows into the Bosphorus, was known as "the Sweet Waters of Asia" by the pioneer European travellers of the epoch (as opposed to "the Sweet Waters of Europe", another contemporary elite recreational area on the other side of the city, where the Kağıthane and Alibeyköy Rivers empty into the Golden Horn).