Istanbul Highlights Tour (Private)

Day 1 : Istanbul Highlights Private Tour

Your private guide will come to meet you at your hotel if you stay in the Old City. For guests coming from outside of Old City, a meeting point is arranged and details are sent by the tour consultant.

Then we discover stunning Old City with these visits:

Hagia Sophia: As one of the attributes of Jesus Christ, ‘Holy Wisdom’ Church Hagia Sophia was built by Byzantine emperor I. Justinian and his big love Theodora. The biggest cathedral of its time and presents amazing marble and mosaic work. It was converted to mosque during the Ottoman time by adding up the minarets, the mosaics covered by plaster and recently revealed, serving as a museum for visitors all around the world.

Byzantine Hippodrome: The Hippodrome witnessed the biggest competition between teams of Blues and Greens with chariot racing as it was the most popular sport of Byzantine times. The The Egyptian Obelisk, the serpentine column and the German fountain of Willhelm II are sites to be visited.

Blue Mosque: This stunning mosque with 6 minarets was built during the Ottoman times by Sultan Ahmet. Even though it is called as Sultanahmet Mosque by Turks, it is also called Blue Mosque because of its incredible hand-made quartz tiles.

Basilica Cistern: The cistern was known in Byzantium as thebasilica Cistern, Justinian was the founder of the largest underground cistern, built after the Nika Revolt in 532.The number of the inhabitants of Constantinople increased and bring a problem of water supply. Basilica Cistern was used to store water for the Great Palace.

Grand Bazaar: The oldest and largest shopping mall of the world, Grand Bazaar has more than 4000 shops, 60 streets, selling jewelry, ceramics, carpets, copper, leather etc, and it is the only historical market in the world that attracts between 250.000 and 400.000 visitors a day.

Please Note:
* This is the walking tour since all the attractions are located within the walking distance.