Tales and Truths: An Exclusive Walking Tour of Istanbul's History

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Grand Bazaar

  The Grand Bazaar is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 65 streets and over 4,000 shops.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 2
  Nuruosmaniye Mosque

  The Nuruosmaniye Mosque is an 18th-century Ottoman mosque located in the Çemberlitaş neighbourhood of Fatih district in Istanbul, Turkey, which was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey in 2016.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 3
  Column of Constantine

  The Column of Constantine is a monumental column commemorating the dedication of Constantinople by Roman emperor Constantine the Great on 11 May 330 AD. Completed 328 AD, it is the oldest Constantinian monument to survive in Istanbul.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 4
  Basilica Cistern

  It is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey.

  1 hour • Admission ticket not included
• 5
  Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque

  It is a mosque and former church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in 537 CE. The site was a Greek Orthodox church from 360 CE to 1453, except for a brief time as a Latin Catholic church between the Fourth Crusade and 1261. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it served as a mosque until 1935, when it became a museum. In 2020, the site once again became a mosque. 

  1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 6
  Blue Mosque

  The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, also known by its official name, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today. It also attracts a large number of tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture. 

  45 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 7
  Hippodrome

  It was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square in Istanbul, Turkey, known as Sultanahmet Square. We will see "German Fountain, Obelisk of Theodosius, Serpent Column, Walled Obelisk" together.

  45 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 8
  TopkapI Palace

  Topkapı Palace was built by Sultan Mehmed II (1444-1445 and 1451-1481) during the years 1460-1478, following the conquest of Istanbul. Topkapı Palace is situated in one of the oldest parts of Istanbul; the historic peninsula bounded by the Marmara Sea, the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn inlet. It is one of the city’s most iconic buildings. 

  1 hour 30 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 9
  Gulhane Park

  Gülhane Park is a historical urban park in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. It adjacent to and on the grounds of the Topkapı Palace. The south entrance of the park sports one of the larger gates of the palace. It is the oldest and one of the most expansive public parks in Istanbul.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 10
  Sirkeci Station

  Sirkeci railway station, listed on maps as Istanbul railway station, is a railway terminal in Istanbul, Türkiye. The terminal is located in Sirkeci, on the tip of Istanbul's historic peninsula, right next to the Golden Horn and just northwest of Gülhane Park and the Topkapı Palace.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 11
  Egyptian Bazaar

  There are several documents suggesting that the name of the bazaar was first "New Bazaar". Then it got its name "Egyptian Bazaar" because it was built with the revenues from the Ottoman eyalet of Egypt in 1660.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 12
  Yeni Mosque

  The New Mosque, originally named the Valide Sultan Mosque,. After its partial reconstruction and completion between 1660 and 1665, is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Türkiye. It is situated on the Golden Horn, at the southern end of the Galata Bridge, and is a notable Istanbul landmark marking the crossing from the old historic core of the city to the Beyoğlu (Pera) district. The mosque is a notable example of the Sultanate of Women period in Ottoman Empire.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 13
  Golden Horn

  The Golden Horn is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Türkiye. As a natural estuary that connects with the Bosphorus Strait at the point where the strait meets the Sea of Marmara, the waters of the Golden Horn help define the northern boundary of the peninsula constituting "Old Istanbul" (ancient Byzantium and Constantinople), the tip of which is the promontory of Sarayburnu, or Seraglio Point. This estuarial inlet geographically separates the historic center of Istanbul from the rest of the city, and forms a horn shape, sheltered harbor that in the course of history has protected Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and other maritime trade ships for thousands of years.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
• Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness

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