A city on two continents

Water divides Istanbul into three. The Bosphorus separates Europe from Asia; the Golden Horn cuts the European side into the old imperial peninsula and the hill of Galata. Nearly everything a first visit calls for sits around the point where those waters meet, and the simplest way to understand the city is to stand on the Galata Bridge and turn slowly through a full circle.

On the peninsula, the Byzantine and Ottoman capitals lie on top of each other. Hagia Sophia, completed in 537, faces the Blue Mosque across a garden; the Basilica Cistern lies beneath the street beside them; Topkapı Palace occupies the headland. Uphill, the covered streets of the Grand Bazaar lead towards the Süleymaniye, the mosque the architect Sinan finished in 1557, and its terrace above the Golden Horn.

Across the water, daily life takes over. Galata’s steep lanes climb to İstiklal Caddesi and its old tram; ferries cross to Kadıköy on the Asian shore in about twenty minutes, with tea sold on deck in tulip-shaped glasses. Food follows you everywhere: sesame-crusted simit from street carts, grilled fish sandwiches at Eminönü, and meze tables that fill slowly over a long evening.