Day 01
Bosphorus Cruise, Topkapı Palace and Hagia Eirene
- We will begin with a brief visit to the 17th-century Spice Bazaar, one of İstanbul's most colourful and bustling attractions.
- Next, we will travel along the Golden Horn on our way to an unforgettable cruise on the Bosphorus, the majestic strait that runs through İstanbul and links Europe and Asia.
- From our cruise boat, we will view the dramatic sights lining the Bosphorus's wooded shores, including mosques, a bridge that was once the world's longest, and Rumeli Hisarı, a massive fortress built by Mehmet the Conqueror in just three months as he prepared to take İstanbul.
- Also noteworthy on this tour are the 19th-century mansions of the Ottoman elite and the sultans' fanciful gingerbread palaces and hunting lodges.
- Then, we will head to Topkapı Palace, which was the principal residence of the Ottoman sultans from the 15th to the 19th century.
- We will visit the fabulous Imperial Treasury and the Baghdad Kiosk. Topkapı Palace is now a museum and has unrivalled collections of jewellery, including the Spoonmaker's Diamond, the third largest in the world. It also possesses numerous Ottoman court costumes and ceramics, notably one of the world's finest collections of Chinese celadon ceramics, along with many gifts from other rulers. Interestingly, some of the ceramics have a special glaze that was said to change colour in the presence of poison.
- We will also explore the Imperial Armory, displaying centuries of Ottoman weaponry. But perhaps the loveliest feature of Topkapı Palace is its courtyards' ancient trees; it is easy to imagine the sultan strolling here far from the cares of state and empire.
- Our next stop, Hagia Eirene, the Church of the Holy Peace, is one of the few churches in İstanbul that was never converted into a mosque, as it was used as an arsenal until the 19th century. Hagia Eirene reputedly stands on the site of a pre-Christian temple and has the distinction of being the first church built in Byzantium when it became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.
- From there, we will go to Gülhane Park, once part of the outer gardens of Topkapı Palace, where the Edict of Gülhane, a declaration of rights and liberties, played an essential role in the modernisation of the Ottoman Empire. After the proclamation of the Republic, Gülhane Park was for many years home to the İstanbul Zoo.
