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Lonely Planet - Istanbul

If you're exploring Istanbul, be sure to check out these highlights, brought to you courtesy of our friends at Lonely Planet Publications

1. Marvelling at Aya Sofya, one of the world's great buildings

It's just before midnight on 28 May 1453, and the smoke of war hangs over a city bowed for its inevitable demise. Emperor Constantine XI enters Haghia Sophia and prostrates himself at the altar among the silenced thousands seeking salvation in this mighty church of Christendom. The Ottoman army is amassed at the city's walls and it's only a matter of hours before the attack begins. By lunchtime on the 29th, the city is taken in a blood bath; Constantine dies fighting on the city walls.

The triumphant Mehmet the Conqueror, a mere 21 years of age, enters the city and heads straight to Haghia Sophia, a building as renowned to Muslims as it is to Christians, and falls to his knees. He sprinkles a handful of soil over his turban as a gesture of humility and orders the church be cleansed of its Christian liturgical adornments and renamed Aya Sofya Camii.

A temporary wooden minaret, mimber (pulpit) and mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca) are hastily added, and the sultan worships here a mere three days after the last emperor of Byzantium.

Modern visitors to Aya Sofya will immediately understand why this particular building was so revered by Constantine and Mehmet - if anything, the intervening centuries have enhanced its magnificence. The somewhat squat exterior does not promise much, but the interior remains mesmerising.

Entering through the imperial door, you soon realise that visiting this place is as much about indulging the senses of sight and sound as viewing the building's physical form. Your gaze is drawn irresistibly to the dome, which seems to hover overhead. You hear the whisper of countless feet on the marble floor. In the diff used half-light, with the echoes raising skywards, it's not hard to imagine that the shadowy corners and mighty dome still host the ghosts of the building's past.

Indeed, history remains palpable here. Byzantine motifs, a few remnant - yet startling - mosaics, medallions inscribed with Arabic calligraphy and perennial scaffolding (in a gaudy shade of orange) sit together in happy juxtaposition, each quietly attesting to the various incarnations of the building: cathedral, mosque, museum and architectural treasure. And here you encounter a microcosm of modern Turkey - bored cadet conscripts smoking in the gallery, excited schoolchildren scampering across the flagstones, Anatolian women in gabardines, and patriarchs with neat moustaches and grey cardigans. They come, as all visitors do, to appreciate this venerable building, the product of a long, tumultuous history.

2. Uncovering the sordid secrets of the Seraglio at the opulent Topkapi Palace

Home to Selim the Sot, who drowned after drinking too much champagne, Ibrahim the Mad, who lost his reason after being locked up for four years in the infamous palace kafes (cage), and Roxelana, the malevolent consort of Suleyman the Magnificent, Topkapi Palace (Topkapi Sarayi) is the subject of more colourful stories than most of the world's palaces put together. All around the palace are extravagant relics of centuries of folly, intrigue, excess and war: extensive gardens once lit by candles riding on tortoises' backs, sparkling jewels from the spoils of conquests, Ottoman art at its zenith.

The Harem, beautifully brought to life in John Freely's Inside the Seraglio: Private Lives of the Sultans of Istanbul, is such a visual feast that it's easy to forget that life under lock and key here must have been bleak, to say the least. Legend has it that Ibrahim the Mad had his entire harem of 280 women tied in sacks and thrown into the Bosphorus when he tired of them.

You need to allow at least half a day to view the palace. Don't miss the Imperial Treasury - including the jewel-encrusted Topkapi Dagger, the object of desire in the film Topkapi (1964) - the Harem and the richly decorated buildings surrounding the reflective pool.

3. Enjoying Mod-Turkish cuisine in the city's best restaurant-bar, 360

Contemplate the contradictions of this city over a meal of the best new Turkish cuisine while you gaze over to the solemnity of Old Istanbul. Balmy evenings at 360 see polished bar patrons propped on stools, their chatter swept away by a cooling breeze, watching as the orange haze beyond sets low over Asia. Inside it's a different story: large groups huddle, heads bent to divulge the latest secret, with raucous laughter growing as the night wears on. The waiters - matinee idols all - are unflappable. Come just before dusk so you can enjoy the view by day and the twinkling of lights by night, as well as the changing of the guests: after dark, sultans in chichi suits make way for Istanbul's gorgeous fashionistas.

After your meal take the stairway down through the superb 19th-century apartment block to the ground-level bustle of Istiklal Caddesi. Beyoglu's superb bars and clubs - including Dulcinea, Indigo and Babylon - await.

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