Istanbul - Where East Meets West

Day 1 – Istanbul

Day 2 – Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Church of St Saviour in Chora & Pierre Loti Café

Meet our guide for a tour of the old city – head to the Sultanahmet district in the heart of historic Old Istanbul to tour the Blue Mosque, the masterwork of the 17th century Ottoman architect Sedefkâr Mehmet Aga, with its six minarets and cascade of domes – with its wide, flat dome the Byzantine masterpiece of Hagia Sophia was a daring engineering feat in the 6th century and architects still marvel at the building's many innovations – built in the 11th century, the Church of St Saviour in Chora contains a wonderfully preserved collection of Byzantine mosaics and frescoes – take a cable car to the famous Pierre Loti Café named after the French novelist Julien Viaud, who was more popularly known as Pierre Loti, with time to enjoy tea and simit, a traditional Turkish bread, and enjoy amazing views of the Golden Horn.

Day 3 – Bosphorus cruise & Spice Bazaar

Explore the Asian part of the city and enjoy a cruise on the Bosphorus – board the boat at Sariyer, a charming fishing village where the Bosphorus meets the Black Sea, and enjoy a perfect vantage point to see the Sultan’s palaces, Rumeli Fortress, the mansions and modern villas forming the elegant part of the city with lunch and a visit to the Spice Bazaar also included.

Day 4 – Topkapi Palace, Underground Cistern & Covered Bazaar

Full day in Istanbul with our guide – Topkapi Palace, home to the Ottoman sultans for nearly 400 years and the heart of the vast Ottoman Empire, is today a museum displaying the Imperial Treasury with wonderful collections of Islamic precious objects and of Chinese porcelain and the site of the Fruit Room of Ahmet II adorned with fruit and floral paintings – the Underground Cistern, built in the 6th century and re-discovered in 1545, supplied water throughout the city during the Byzantine and Ottoman times and was used to water the gardens of Topkapi Palace – the Covered Bazaar of Istanbul, with 60 alleyways and 3,000 shops, is the oldest and largest in the world.

Day 5 – Dolmabahçe Palace

Built by Sultan Abdül Mecit in 1856, the extravagant opulence of Dolmabahçe Palace belies the fact that it was built at a time when the Ottoman Empire was in decline – transfer to the airport for our scheduled flight home.