Istanbul

It takes time to see Istanbul properly, since examples of its 2,000-year-old past can be difficult to find amid the chaos of the present. Most visitors go straight to the Sultanahmet district, the oldest part of the city, where there are at least some remnants of Byzantine Constantinople, such as Haghia Sophia (Aya Sofya), among the splendours of Imperial Ottoman architecture, such as Topkapi Palace and the Blue Mosque. Sultanahmet is, however, a ‘tourist quarter' with the usual irritations of badgering touts and crowds of people and it is not the only historic part of the city.

The city centre, including the areas referred to as ‘the old city' and ‘the new city', which are separated by the estuary of the Golden Horn, is located on the European side of Istanbul, on the western side of the Bosphorus Strait.