Top 10 Must-Explore Sights in Istanbul
1. Basilica Cistern
Basilica Cistern is one of Istanbul's magnificent and superb historic buildings. It is located in the southwest of Hagia Sophia. The great and grandeur symmetry of this building makes it an amazing and breathtaking sight. The unfathomable depth makes it a great retreat on sunny days.
This great site is also known as Basilica Cistern because cistern is located at a place called Basilica.
In the 6th century, the fantastic building was built, and it was then overlooked for many years.
Previously, the water has flowed away to the other part of this reservoir. It has been well suited with a musical sound system, and harmony, and glittered by lights. Three hundred thirty-six sections are surrounded by the fish flitter that helps the roof. The wonderful topsy turvy head of Medusa is the must-see part of this cistern.
2. Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia (in Turkey Ayasofya) is often referred to as the Eighth wonder of the world. The spectacular site is located right in the heart of Sultanahmet.
The amazing building with an attractive design makes it a great place to explore. The building shows the creative and artful aspect of Emperor Justinian's Byzantine, 6th century. Due to this, you will encounter the rush at this place all the time because it is quite impossible to overstate the beauty of this palace. It has shown the great transition from the church-turned-mosque-turned-gallery, which is peculiar.
This museum has fantastic facts to explore, the dome of this museum is 180 feet high and 100 feet wide. It is also considered as a revolution in history.
The first floor of the structure is to a great extent vacant; the best of the sparkling mosaics hide in the exhibitions upstairs. Before as far as possible of the year, the city's best covers will go in plain view in the soup kitchen including after the congregation was transformed into a mosque.
3. Topkapi Palace
Suppose you want to explore the most beautiful and sensational place. In that case, Topkapi Palace is the place you must visit in Istanbul. It was built in the middle of 1466 and 1478 by Sultan Mehmet II over a slope in a little peninsula, commanding the Golden Horn toward the north, the Sea of Marmara toward the south, and the Bosphorus strait toward the northeast, with great perspectives on the Asian side too. The Tower of the Justice that is above it was generally used for the supervision of the harbour. It is the home to the prompting generation of sultans and their wives, who were closeted in the most famous harem in this world. There is also a treasury of the Divan, which is an exhibition of weapons of that time. It is basically like a warren of lushly tiled rooms that round a gem of a great Turkish bath. To avoid the worst of the crowds, explore this palace on a day when no cruise ship is in town.
4. Hagia Sophia Hürrem Sultan Hamam
Hagia Sophia Hürrem Sultan Hamam is the most prosperous customary shower involved in the Old City. It was designed by Mimar Sinan and constructed directly over the street from Aya Sofya by request of Süleyman the Magnificent and named out of appreciation for his better half Hürrem Sultan, ordinarily known as Roxelana. In 2011, it became possible for visitors to visit this spectacular and stunning Hamam. Consider sections of land marble, the sound of running water reverberating around dynamite arches and a back rub fit for a sultan. You'll turn out nearly murmuring.
5. Blue Mosque
It is the most magnificent mosque globally, facing Aya Sofya beyond the small park and mirroring its domed silhouette making it a beautiful tourist attraction on this lonely planet. In the mid-seventeenth century, Blue Mosque is one of many mosques on the earth to flaunt six minarets. Is it truly blue? All things considered, not discernibly, every one of the dividers is papered with beautiful Iznik tiles. The man whose name was Sultan Ahmed I first gave his name to both the mosque and the area neighborhood.
To see it as the draftsman, Sedefkar Mehmed Aga, initially proposed, enter through what resembles the side passage from the Hippodrome. Pop your head into a structure the measure of a little mosque on the edge of the complex.
6. Istanbul Archaeology Museums
One of the most impressive and must-visit historical venues in Istanbul is the Istanbul Archaeological Museums which you will love to explore on your tour. The amazing place comprises three units: the Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul Archaeological Museum, and Tiled Kiosk Museum with the Archaeological Museum being the main building built by Alexandre Vallaury. The museum took its final form with the construction of auxiliaries built in 1903 and 1907. At long last, get a look at an agreeable settlement from 1269 BC safeguarded in the piece of the historical centre closest to the entryway.
This magnificent museum has a huge collection of archaeological and artistic treasures taken from the Topkapı collections. Out of many highlights, the sarcophagi from the Royal Necropolis of Sidon is quite a breathtaking museum.
Children will love the model Trojan Horse in the youngsters segment. At that point, one of the city's most established Ottoman structures, wonderfully reestablished to flaunt its best earthenware production, flew into the exquisite Tiled Pavilion.
7. Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum
The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts provides a fascinating site for the traditional arts' complexity and unfathomable depth. It is housed in what was originally the home of the Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha.
The Hippodrome can be overlooked where.
The Byzantine admirers of chariot dashing once conveyed similar energy to their game as present-day Turks do to football, this exhibition hall houses a great accumulation of immense floor coverings from everywhere throughout the nation. Its cellar highlights recreations of everything from a completely fitted traveller tent to a fabulous inside from a nineteenth-century Bursa manor. Try not to leave without seeing hand-woven Uşak Anatolian carpets. The museum has one of the best carpet collections in the world. The nomads use a fascinating array of Turkish nomad art that includes all the small things.
8. Süleymaniye Mosque
The mosque with a unique historical aspect is the Süleymaniye Mosque. It is a grand mosque, being the centre of attraction of the city. The veteran Ottoman architect Sinan designed this beautiful mosque for Suleiman the Magnificent. It is the finest and the most beautiful out of 42 surviving mosques that he designed for Istanbul. Social service buildings retain their original, sophisticated design including a library, a hospital, madrasahs, and a hammam.
For travellers and locals, it is the main attraction because of the street food that is delicious and delectable. It is a place without paying a visit to this place your outdoor tour of Istanbul will be incomplete.
9. Chora Church
There are so many historical buildings in Istanbul that Chora Church is the most adorable church.
It has a long and chequered history that divulges much part of Istanbul’s History. The church in the old city provides stunning and enchanting glimpses of late Byzantine splendour, its well-carved walls and beautifully designed ceilings adorned with awe-inspiring frescoes and sparkling mosaics. This sparkling mosaic tells biblical stories, which can be followed like a graphic novel. It is a magnificent building erected in the neighbourhood of restored Ottoman wooden houses with a great texture and beautifully painted in pastel colours. Before you leave, you must look at the beautiful walls and design of fifth-century architecture.
10. Galata Tower
Istanbul is the only city that is spreading over two continents- Europe and Asia, because of this, it has become the most important tourist attraction in the world. The tower was erected hundreds of years ago based on the ancient structure. It is entirely made of stone with a beautiful design. It is such a magnificent place that you will never miss exploring, once you are around Istanbul.
It rules the neighbourhood horizon from virtually any bearing you take a gander at it.
This magnificent tower was built in 1348, and the pinnacle once shaped piece of a sub-city having a place with the Genoese that extended directly down to the Bosphorus. It is not just high, but it also has an admirable cone cap. Get a birds-eye view of the tower quickly from the balcony in Beyoğlu.
