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Sultanahmet
Most short-stay visitors spend all their time in Sultanahmet, home of Istanbul’s main sightseeing attractions: the Topkapi Palace, heart of the Ottoman Empire; the Sultanahmet Camii (better known as the Blue Mosque); and the greatest legacy of the Byzantine Empire, the church of AyaSofya. Here also are the ancient Hippodrome, the Museum of İslamic Culture (housed in the former Palace of İbrahim Pasa), the Yerebatan underground cistern and the Kapali Carsi, the largest covered bazaar in the world. The monumental architecture, attractive parks and gardens, street-side cafes, and the benefits of a relatively traffic-free main road (courtesy of the tramline) combine to make this area pleasant for both sightseeing and staying.
On the negative side, large numbers of persistent hustlers gather around the Hippodrome and Divan Yolu Caddesi, badgering new arrivals to visit their carpet shop or offering to act as a guide. İgnore them in a friendly but firm manner, otherwise you’ll end up spending more time (and money) on carpet shopping than you dreamed possible.
AyaSofya
For almost a thousand years AyaSofya, or Haghia Sophia (daily except Mon 9am–6pm, upper galleries close at 5.30pm; 15YTL), was the largest enclosed space in the world, designed to impress the strength and wealth of the Byzantine emperors upon their own subjects and visiting foreign dignitaries alike. Located between the Topkapi Palace and Sultanahmet Camii on the ancient acropolis, the first hill of Istanbul, the church dominated the city skyline for a millennium, until the domes and minarets of the city’s mosques began to challenge its eminence in the sixteenth century.
Considering the vicissitudes undergone by the building over the centuries it’s perhaps surprising to find Aya Sofya still standing at all. As it is, after years of work, the restored interior of the dome has finally emerged from its scaffolding, while restorations have also improved its formerly neglected brick-and-stonework exterior.

Topkapi Palace
The Topkapi Palace (daily except Tues 9am–5pm) was both the symbolic and the political centre of the Ottoman Empire for nearly four centuries, until the removal of the imperial retinue to DolmabahCe, by Sultan Abdülmecid İ in 1853. İt is a beautiful setting in which to wander and contemplate the majesty of the Ottoman sultanate, as well as the cruelty exemplified by institutions like the harem and “the Cage”.
Originally known as Sarayi Cedid, or New Palace, Topkapi was built between 1459 and 1465 as the seat of government of the newly installed Ottoman regime. İt was not at first a residence: Mehmet the Conqueror had already built what would become known as the Old Palace on the present site of Istanbul University and even after he himself moved, his harem stayed on at the old site.
İn accordance with İslamic tradition, the palace consists of a collection of buildings arranged around a series of courtyards, similar to the Alhambra in Granada or a Moghul palace in İndia. Although this creates an initial impression of disorder, in fact the arrangement is meticulously logical. The first courtyard was the service area of the palace and open to all, while most of the second court and its attendant buildings were devoted to the Divan, or Council of State, and to those who had business with it. The pavilions of judges were located at the Orta Kapi (the entrance to the palace proper, between the first and second courtyards), in accordance with the tradition that justice should be dispensed at the gate of the palace.
The third courtyard was mainly given over to the palace school, an important imperial institution devoted to the training of civil servants, and it is only in the fourth courtyard that the serious business of state gives way to the more pleasurable aspects of life. Around the attractive gardens here are a number of pavilions erected by successive emperors in celebration of their victories. Here, the glorious views and sunsets could be enjoyed in privileged retreat from their three- to four-thousand-member retinue.
The various adjustments made to the structure and function of the buildings were indicative of the power shifts in the Ottoman Empire over the centuries. During the “Rule of the Harem” in the sixteenth century, for example, a passageway was opened between the Harem and the Divan, while in the eighteenth century, when the power of the sultan had declined, the offices of state were transferred away from the “Eye of the Sultan” (the window in the Divan through which a sultan could monitor proceedings) to the gateway that led to the palaces of the Grand Vezir known as the Sublime Port.
The entrance to Topkapi Palace is to the right and behind Aya Sofya, up Babihümayun Caddesi. There is no fee to enter the first courtyard. The entry fees for the Palace (12YTL) and the İmperial Treasury (10YTL) are paid at a ticket booth located to the right of the middle gate that leads through to the second courtyard. Another ticket booth is located at the entrance of the Harem, where you can pay a further 10YTL for a guided tour of the Harem.

Sultanahmet Camii: the Blue Mosque
On the southeastern side of the Hippodrome is the Sultanahmet Camii, or Blue Mosque. İts instantly recognizable six minarets, imposing bulk and prominent position on the İstanbul skyline combine to make it one of the most famous and visited monuments in the city. Despite this, many architectural historians are scathing about the Blue Mosque’s aesthetic merit.
Before construction began, in 1609, objections were raised to the plan of a six-minareted mosque. İt was said to be unholy to rival the six minarets of the mosque at Mecca, and perhaps more pertinently it would be a great drain on state revenues. The true cause of the objections, however, probably had more to do with the need to destroy several palaces belonging to imperial ministers to make way for construction.
From the outside, the building is undeniably impressive, particularly on the all-important approach from Topkapi Palace. Above the level of the courtyard the mosque is a mass of shallow domes and domed turrets, hardly broken by a single straight line. The courtyard, best approached from the attractive and graceful west portal, is surrounded by a portico of thirty small domes and has the same dimensions as the mosque itself.
You can enter through the courtyard, despite signs in English and German asking visitors to use the side entrance facing Aya Sofya. Lone tourists, as opposed to groups, will not create ill-will by entering here as long as they are suitably covered (limbs for men and women, heads for women) and do not intrude on worshippers. At the side entrance, you will invariably encounter large crowds.
İnside, four “elephant foot” pillars (so called because of their size) of five metres in diameter impose their disproportionate dimensions on the interior, appearing squashed against the outer walls and obscuring parts of the building from every angle. But it’s the predominantly blue colour of the internal decoration that is the biggest draw, from which the name “Blue Mosque” is derived. The tiles – over twenty thousand of them – constituted such a tall order that the İznik kilns were practically exhausted. Still in evidence are the clear bright colours of the best period of İznik ware, including flower and tree panels as well as more abstract designs.
At the northeast corner of the Sultanahmet complex is the richly decorated and elegant royal pavilion, approached by ramp and giving access to the sultan’s loge inside the mosque – the ramp meant that the sultan could ride his horse right up to the door of his chambers. The royal pavilion now houses a Museum of Carpets (Hali Müzesi; Tues– Sat 9am–4pm; 2YTL), which traces the history of Turkish carpets through the ages and includes some ancient, priceless pieces.
Between May 1 and September 30 there is a free sound and light show conducted from the small seating area in the park between the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. İmages are projected onto the surrounding buildings to a musical and spoken accompaniment – performed in English, French, Turkish and German on alternate evenings from 7.30pm onwards. Unfortunately, the event attracts a large number of hustlers.

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Arriving in Istanbul can come as a shock. You may still be in Europe - with tree-lined boulevards and chic cafe bars in many areas - but step away from the main drag and most likely you will find you have entered a completely ailen environment. Traders with handcarts , hamals (stevedores) carrying burdens of merchandise twice their own size and weight , limbless beggars and shoeshine boys all freuquent the backstreets around the city centre , loudly proclaiming their busines until late at night. Men monopolize the downmarket public bars and teahouses while women scurry about their business , heads often covered and gaze ever downcast. In summer , dust tracks take the place of pavements, giving way in winter to a ubiquitous slurry of mud. Where there are pavements ,they are punctuated at intervals with unmarked pits large enough to swallow you without trace. And this is before you even begin to crosss any bridges into Asia.

Yet istanbul is the only city in the world to have played capital to consecutive Christian and Islamic empires. Their legacies are much in evidence , newhere more prominently than in the cultural centre of the city , where the gerat edifices of Ayasofya and Sultan Ahmet Camii glower at each other across a small park. The juxtaposition of the two cultures would be fascinating enough in itself but it is made more so by the fact that the transition between them was a process of assimilation and adoption. Mehmet the Conqueror , and most of the citys churches were reconsecrated as mosques - not least Aya Sofya itself , which was a constant source of inspiration to Islamic architects.

Monumental architecture aside, the very confusion of sights and sounds initially so alienating soon becomes one of Istanbuls greatest fascinations. Even if the city did not have such a varied and vivid history , it would still take any number of return visits to begin to discover the source and meaning of the cacophony. Exploration reveasl ancient bazaars which still function as they have done for centuries , including the largest covered bazaar in the world, the Kapali Carsi. The modern city, located around vast emptiness affords to some a feeling of relief after days spent in crowded , dirty backstreets , and at night Taksim and the adjacent Istiklal Caddesi take on a new lease of life as a centre of friendly bars and clubs while the area between Taksim and Galata offers some of the citys best restaurants. The Bosphorus - the straits dividing Europe and Asia - should be visited as often as possible during the course of a trip , since howmuch you enjoy Istanbul may well depend on how often you can escape to its shores. The coastal villages offer incredible views as well as some of the citys more interesting historical sites , parks and esen open forestland , and the best fish restaurants in this part of the world. The Princes Islands , traditional refuge from political turmoil on the mainland , are worth visiting for their unspoilt natural beauty and for the possibility of finding a secluded beach an hours ferry ride away from Eminonu.

Finding a bed for the night is generally no problem in Turkey , except in high season at the busier coastal resorts and larger towns. Lists of category-rated hotels, motels and the better pansiyons are published local tourist offices , and we have listed the best options throughout the Guide , although in practice where you end up can often be luck of the draw and which tout , if any , you decide to follow.

If you take your chances with a tout rather than our recommendations ,note that certain outfits particularly in Istanbul , Kusadasi , Selcuk , Antalya , Kas and Cappadocia , have generated serious complaints from ex-clients , ranging from dangerous plumbing to extortion and false imprisonment . If , on the other hand , you like where you have stayed , you may very well find that your accommodation proprietor keeps business cards on hand for similar establishments in other towns often they have visited each other or have some idea of whats on offer . This informal network can work very well indeed , with proprietors making a simple phone call to arrange both a stay and a retrieval from the otogar for you at your destination.

Prices while cheap by most Western European standards , are no longer rock-bottom , and can be downright exorbitant in Istanbul . To some extent facilities have improved correspondingly , though not surprisingly you often get less for your money in the big tourist meccas , ant little choice between fleapits or four-star luxury in relatively untouristed town of the interior.

Singles generally go for just over half the price of a double , since proprietors are well used to lone business travellers. Rooms with en suite bath are generally about twenty-five percent ally available, costing about thirty percent more than a double. Rates quoted should be discreetly compared to those posted over the reception desk. which show the maximum permissible prices.

Kalkan is small but rapidly growing resort tumbling down mountainside to a small harbour filled with yachts. The town itself only has a small stretch of pebbly beach, though the stunning beach at patara and the historical sights of the Xantos valley, are only a short drive away. Kalkan is particularly popular with British tourists , many of whom rent villas rather than stay in hotels.

Kalkan’s narrow streets leading down to the harbour are lined with restaurants shops , and bars. However many of these close for the winter, when there are just some basic shops a suyermarket and medical centre that remain open. On-going improvements to the main coastal highway have cut the journey time do Dalaman airport to around 2 hours. Kalkan gas grown explosively in recent years with major development on the mountainside above the toqn centre and along the coast. Local property is predominantly villas , although more apartment have been built recently. In the old town there are small stone houses. A two-bedroom cottage with courtyard sells from 75,000-110,000 Paunt .

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A small exclusive resort , the choice of property in gocek is fairly limited and prices are high.

Tucked at the head of a narrow bay surrounded by forested mountains. Gocek is one of the Turkey’s most up-market resorts. An important yachting center , the town has no less than four marinas , where many of the country’s wealthiest and most powerful people moor their yachts and gin places. The pedestrianised promenade is lined with restaurants and bars , with a selection of shops and a small supermarket on the main square. The resort lacks a good public beach, although the Swissotel manages a stretch of sand to the south of the port gocek marina. The opening of a new road tunnel scheduled for summer 2006 will bring dalaman airport within 20 minutes drive.

The lack of flat land and local building restrictions limit the amount of development possible , with most new property concentrated in the flat area between the town and the ring road. There are several new developments in the meadows and forests overlooking the resort also.

Not surprisingly prices are high in gocek with villas starting forum 135,000 Paunt though you must pay in excess of 250,000 Paunt for a spacious three-bedroom house with pool and garden overlooking the town. Plots for building are rare and expensive several developers have projects that include apartments with prices from 90,000 paunt for two-bedrooms.

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Kas and around

Tourism has transformed KAS , until 1923 the Greek-populated timber-shipping port of Andifli, which sprang to prominence after about 1850. It’s still beautifully situated, nestled in a curving bay – the name Kas means “eyebrow” or “something curved” – with a backdrop of vertical 500 metre high cliffs peppered with rock tomms, and startling , head on views of Greek Kastellorizo . But what was a sleepy fishing village until the early 1980s has become a holiday metropolis and ilçe (country seat), whose permanent official population of eight thousand is vastly outnumbered in summer by the vacationers on whom locals depend for a living. Attitudes towards outsiders have inevitably hardened – the otogar is predictably well patrolled by accommodation touts though they’re not yet like those encountered at Selcuk or Pamukkale. Kas is less snooty, more youth-oriented and more hoi polloi cosmopolitan than nearby Kalkan ; aspiring Istanbul and Ankara yuppies come here, and amongst foreigners its still, unlike Kalkan , firmly established on the backpackers trail.

Kas has always been a major halting point on “Blue Cruise” itineraries, and yacht and gulet culture is as important here as Kalkan with day-trips available on the latter craft for the less well-heeled. Plans are afoot to move all pleasure craft to a new marina being prepared at Bucak Limani (formerly Vathy), the long fjord west of town, wedged between Highway 400 ant the Cukurbag peninsula which extends 5 km south-west of Kas.

The beaches
Considering that Kas is a major Turkish resort , local natural beaches are surprisingly poor; a few on the north shore of Bucak Limani are muddy and give onto sumpy water. In town itself Küçükçakil ( small gravel) has in recent years been pretty much taken over by the hotels facing it , who have installed snack-bar and sunbed concessions and concreted over the shore as a lido. Büyükçakil just over a kilometer east of town, is a small , coarse-shingle cove that nevertheless gets crowded out.

There’s no beach to speak of in Kas itself, or anywhere nearby for that matter, which together with a lack of a really convenient airport , and a spotty water supply (finally remedied in 1988 by a pipeline from Saklikent ) has spared the town the worst excesses of modern torism. Indeed , if you are not looking for antiques and carpets , at first glance there seems little to keep you here the town does get lively at night, however mainly because shops stay open until 1am in season - the many bars much later. By day Kas makes a handy base from which to reach Kekova and nearby Patara if you dont have your own transport , and local boosters are working hard to make it a major springboard for various types of adventure and activity tourism. The modern town is built atop the site of ancient Antiphellos , whose remaining ruins still speckle the streets, as well as covering the base of the peninsula to the west.

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Kas and around

Tourism has transformed KAS , until 1923 the Greek-populated timber-shipping port of Andifli, which sprang to prominence after about 1850. It’s still beautifully situated, nestled in a curving bay – the name Kas means “eyebrow” or “something curved” – with a backdrop of vertical 500 metre high cliffs peppered with rock tomms, and startling , head on views of Greek Kastellorizo . But what was a sleepy fishing village until the early 1980s has become a holiday metropolis and ilçe (country seat), whose permanent official population of eight thousand is vastly outnumbered in summer by the vacationers on whom locals depend for a living. Attitudes towards outsiders have inevitably hardened – the otogar is predictably well patrolled by accommodation touts though they’re not yet like those encountered at Selcuk or Pamukkale. Kas is less snooty, more youth-oriented and more hoi polloi cosmopolitan than nearby Kalkan ; aspiring Istanbul and Ankara yuppies come here, and amongst foreigners its still, unlike Kalkan , firmly established on the backpackers trail.

Kas has always been a major halting point on “Blue Cruise” itineraries, and yacht and gulet culture is as important here as Kalkan with day-trips available on the latter craft for the less well-heeled. Plans are afoot to move all pleasure craft to a new marina being prepared at Bucak Limani (formerly Vathy), the long fjord west of town, wedged between Highway 400 ant the Cukurbag peninsula which extends 5 km south-west of Kas.

The beaches
Considering that Kas is a major Turkish resort , local natural beaches are surprisingly poor; a few on the north shore of Bucak Limani are muddy and give onto sumpy water. In town itself Küçükçakil ( small gravel) has in recent years been pretty much taken over by the hotels facing it , who have installed snack-bar and sunbed concessions and concreted over the shore as a lido. Büyükçakil just over a kilometer east of town, is a small , coarse-shingle cove that nevertheless gets crowded out.

There’s no beach to speak of in Kas itself, or anywhere nearby for that matter, which together with a lack of a really convenient airport , and a spotty water supply (finally remedied in 1988 by a pipeline from Saklikent ) has spared the town the worst excesses of modern torism. Indeed , if you are not looking for antiques and carpets , at first glance there seems little to keep you here the town does get lively at night, however mainly because shops stay open until 1am in season - the many bars much later. By day Kas makes a handy base from which to reach Kekova and nearby Patara if you dont have your own transport , and local boosters are working hard to make it a major springboard for various types of adventure and activity tourism. The modern town is built atop the site of ancient Antiphellos , whose remaining ruins still speckle the streets, as well as covering the base of the peninsula to the west.

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Cesme is a small resort overlooking the Greek island of Chios 45 minutes from  the city of Izmir. Many Turkish families have second-homes in the area and it has also become a fashionable holiday spot for young people from Istanbul and Ankara . Despite its domestic appeal , few foreigner visit or buy property.      

In the town , a large Genoese castle stands over the harbour , from where ferries leave for Chios and ports in Italy. Ilica 5 km east of the center , has the areas best beach , while nearby Alacati , formerly a small village of stone houses is popular with windsurfers . There are several marines in the area , as well as a hot spring and thermal centre.      

There are more beaches beyond the fishing village of ciftlikkoy , which is a pleasant year-round Turkish community. In the opposite direction , dalyankoy has a harbour surrounded by fish restaurant. The local dining is varied ad the nightlife is lively during the summer months.

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