ISTANBUL
Istanbul is the only city in the world connecting two continents Asia and Europe. It stands on the shores of the uniquely beautiful Bosphorus where the waters of the Black Sea combine with those of the Marmara Sea and the Golden Horn. Istanbul has been the capital  of three empires, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman, which used to dominate the world. Today the city stands with all its glamour and mysticism as a harmonious link between East and West, past and presents and antique and modern.
It is one of the richest cities historically, as well as one of the most beautiful, enchanting and alive cities of the world; it has an atmosphere of its own with  its life-style, people and numerous attractions. In Istanbul, you will have to be generous with time since it has so much to show. The old palaces, the great mosques with soaring minarets, ancient churches, museums, bazaars, the Istanbul Strait and others are wonderful sites worth seeing.
Certainly you should see the supremely elegant Imperial Sultanahmet Mosque with six minarets. The building is more familiarly known as the Blue Mosque because of its magnificent interior of blue and white Iznik tiles. Directly in front of the Blue Mosque there is the Aya Sofya Museum (The Basilika of Hagia Sophia), one of the finest buildings of all time. The Kariye Museum is, after Hagia Sophia, the  most important Byzantine monument of Istanbul. The cascading domes and four slender minarets of the Imperial Suleymaniye Mosque, considered the most beautiful of all imperial mosques In Istanbul, dominate the skyline on the Golden Horn's west bank. On a finger of land at the confluence of the Bosphous, the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara stands the Topkapi Palace, where the sultans and their court lived and governed.  The facade of the Dolmabahce Palace stretches for 600 meters along the European shore of the Bosphorus. It is the last Ottoman Palace.
Reclining on the western shore of the Bosphorus at sunset contemplating the red evening light reflected in the windows of the opposite shore you may suddenly understand why so many centuries ago settlers chose to build on this remarkable site. At such times you can see why Istanbul is truly one of the most glorious cities in the world. 
museums mosque palaces monuments