Istanbul has been the capital of four empires for 16 centuries, spans two continents, straddles two seas, has one of the world’s most beautiful skylines punctuated with palaces and minarets, is an endlessly fascinating East-meets-West mix of mosques, designer shops and buzzing bars, a cacophony of hooting car-choked streets, blasting ship horns from the incessant criss-crossing of water traffic on the Bosphorus and wailing calls to prayer five times a day and an epic setting on seven hills. In short, it’s an amazing city where you could spend weeks and not discover all its treasures.

We only had four days to take in as much as we could of Istanbul’s history, food, streets and art. In a whirlwind of sightseeing in the old city, we marvelled at the Blue Mosque at dusk after all the tourists had left and its minarets started to light up against an inky-blue sky, sat on the floor of the Aya Sofya under its massive domes trying to take in the layers of history of this spiritually significant building which was a church for a thousand years and then a mosque (the original Christian paintings are still being uncovered), tried to photograph creepy carp who’d never seen the light of day in the dark and chilly ancient Basilica Cistern with its mysterious upside-down Medusa heads, took a twenty-minute ferry ride to Asia for TL3 (R15) and ate the best food of our trip at chef Yottam Ottolenghi’s favourite restaurant in the city, the unpretentious Ciya Sofrasi, bought boxes of sugar-dusted pistachio-and-rosewater Turkish delight from the hectically busy Spice Bazaar (which used to be the last stop for caravans travelling the Silk Road from Persia and the Far East), got lost in the labyrinthine alleys of the 500-year-old Grand Bazaar among piles of carpets and thousands of glinting blue eyes and multi-coloured lamps, cranked our necks trying to look at every bit of the glitteringly gaudy Dolmabahce Palace, and tried to conjure up romantic visions of the royal life of the sultans and their beautiful concubines in the Topkapi Palace, which was the court of the Ottoman Empire for four hundred years.

While the museums, mosques and monuments of Istanbul were incredible, our favourite moments in the city were spent in Beyoglu (Istanbul’s most cosmopolitan area, separated from the old city by the Golden Horn, an inlet of the Bosphorus) soaking up contemporary life at a slower pace – eating syrupy baklava or sesame-encrusted simit (bread rings) on a park bench, eating dondurma (Turkish ice cream) while walking with the crowds down Istiklal Street (Istanbul’s semi-pedestrianised version of Oxford Street), smoking nargile (water pipe) and sipping sweet apple tea in beautifully-patterned delicate cups in a tea garden in the late afternoon under the Galata Tower to a soundtrack of tweeting swallows, the call to prayer and honking ships, strolling on the Galata Bridge at sunset watching people catch fish, drinking beer on rooftop bars with spectacular views over the Bosphorus and eating breakfasts of olives, cheese, tomatoes and pastries in quiet courtyards as the city (a late sleeper) slowly came to life.

Travellers have been fascinated by Istanbul for hundreds of years, returning home to Europe to exoticise it in paintings and flowery writing. It’s hard not to get a bit over excited when trying to describe this utterly beguiling city that manages to draw you in almost from the moment you step off the plane.

 

My Istanbul highlights

Walking everywhere (this is not a city for high heels!) – especially in Beyoglu (the European side of Istanbul) and discovering cool little spots on tiny side streets and steep cobbled roads, like junk shops, second-hand bookshops and bohemian bars in Cihangir, tiny hipster-ish coffee shops on side streets at the bottom of Istiklal Street, street art down alleys and vintage shops packed full of amazing clothes and old paintings in Galata.

Istanbul has the most amazing rooftop bars, where you can have a beer and take in views over the city and Bosphorus as the sun sets. A fair few of the bars are overpriced, but I guess you’re paying for the view. In the old city, Seven Hills in Sultanhamet has pretty incredible views of the sea, the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya but the service was shocking and the prices exorbitant (also if you don’t book ahead or plan to eat dinner there you’ll be put at a table right in the middle). The Ambassador Hotel has less spectacular views – with the Aya Sofya a bit further away – but more reasonable prices, and it’s very casual so you could linger over a beer for an undisturbed while. In Beyoglu there’s 5.Kat which is in the lovely, hippy-ish Cihangir area, which has panoramic views of the Bosphorus, and Leb-i Derya, a hip restaurant with a small outdoor terrace and indoor seating with modern minimalist decor.

Nargile (water pipe) cafes are all over the city – some filled with tourists and others, old men playing backgammon. There’s nothing better than smoking apple-flavoured nargile, sipping sweet apple tea and watching the world go by . Our favourite nargile cafes were the fifth-floor Perla Kallavi on Kallavi Street just off Istiklal, which is very much a local vibe, with groups of 20-something Istanbullus smoking for hours (they refill your coals here without you asking) on the terraces overlooking Istiklal and the Bosphorus beyond. Another great spot is Ceneviz Cafe, under the Galata Tower. This ground-floor cafe, with a mix of tourists and locals, has sunken tables and chairs decorated with Turkish kilms surrounded by plants and vines and a backdrop of the tower.

 

The gorgeous mosaics and sumptuous apartments in the harem quarter (it’s worth paying the extra money for entrance to the harem) of the Topkapi Palace, and imagining what it must have been like for brothers of the reigning Sultan to have been locked up in the ‘Cage’ here until their brother died and they were needed to replace him (by which time most of them had gone mad).

The incredible gaudiness of the Dolmabahce Palace (especially its 150-year-old bearskin rugs from the Tsar of Russia, the four-ton crystal chandelier from Queen Victoria and magnificent trompe l’oeil ceremonial hall), a desperate extravagant expense which sped up the bankruptcy of the Ottoman Empire.

The contemporary photography in the Istanbul Modern Gallery – a dose of the modern amongst the old.

The tiny, undervisited 450-year-old Rustem Pasa Mosque, covered in intricate blue tiles, was my favourite mosque in Istanbul. It was a much more contemplative, serene space than the Blue Mosque, with its hordes of noisy, herd-like tour groups.

The scale of Aya Sofya and the unexpected gracefulness and beauty of the interior considering its size.

The Basilica Cistern – an unobviously cool (in both senses of the word) 1400-year-old sight. It’s the largest of several ancient underground cisterns and was originally a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople. Carp swim between huge columns in the darkness, two of which are held up by mysterious Medusa heads (featured in the Bond movie From Russia with Love) that no one has been able to work out where they’re from or why one is upside down.

Going to the Blue Mosque at sunset, when the tourists have cleared out and the call to prayer rings out into a dusky sky and you can fully appreciate the symmetrical splendour of this iconic building.

 

Where to stay

Most tourists choose to stay in the old city, near Sultanhamet, so they can be close to all the main tourist sights – the Blue Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Spice Bazaar, Aya Sofya, Topkapi Palace, museums and Basilica Cistern are all in this area. While this makes it convenient to be withing walking distance of places you want to see, this part of town is pretty touristy and at night there isn’t much going on apart from tourist restaurants. We much preferred staying in Beyoglu, on the other side of the Golden Horn (which is still the European side). There was much more of a fun vibe here, with loads of bars, restaurants, cafes, boutiques, shops and more locals than tourists around. You can easily walk across the Galata Bridge from Beyoglu to the old city, or take the tram, which is cheap, easy and fast.

Beyoglu

Noble House Galata is a quirky, hip, friendly little guesthouse on a tiny, quiet side street close to busy Istiklal Caddesi. Each of the eight rooms here is decorated in a different style, from the Sultan Room to the Black Room (we stayed in the Hammam Room, with a massive marble bath). Staff make you feel like you’re staying in their home rather than a hotel, and make a big effort to help you out with whatever you need. Breakfasts (which you eat outside in the peaceful courtyard/street) here are a treat – freshly-baked pastries, tapenades, cheese, parcels filled with nuts and cheese, glace walnuts, cherries, eggs and bread. Read more about Noble House Galata here. Doubles from €65. www.noblehousegalata.com

Close to the vibey Nevizade Street with its taverns and restaurants packed with singing revellers, Peradays is also a two-minute walk away from Istiklal. You wouldn’t know that it was housed in a 19th-century building, as the interior has been totally renovated and is modern, minimalist and chic. There are nine rooms on several floors with a terrace at the top. I loved the design of our room, with its wooden floors, high ceilings, stylishly minimalist fittings, neutral colour scheme and glass walled bathroom – as well as the tiny geranium-framed balcony. The owners (Murat and Bora) are two retired friends who started the hotel because they love people (you’re likely to be invited to share Raki and chat about Turkish politics – so you feel like you’re staying at a cool uncle’s house instead of a hotel). Read more about my review of Peradays here. Doubles from €100. www.peradays.com

Sultanhamet (old city)

We spent one night in the old city, at a lovely boutique hotel called Empress Zoe, which is a five-minute walk from the Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya. It’s right in the heart of tourist town, with a street lined with pretty pricey tourist-only restaurants on its doorstep. However, it’s very convenient if you prefer to be close to all the main sights. It’s an old restored building with a lot of charm – I loved the rickety winding iron staircase leading up to the rooms from reception and the old vines covering the window frames. The quiet garden courtyard proved to be the perfect place to drink afternoon tea or Turkish coffee after escaping the tourist hordes, and it was also a great spot for breakfast. Our room was decorated in a traditional sultanate style, with wood panelling, embroidered fabrics in dark colours, Turkish carpets and a romantic four-poster bed. Doubles from €140. www.emzoe.com

 

Where to eat

Just about everywhere we went in Istanbul had delicious food, whether it was syrupy baklava, salty-cheese borek or nutty Turkish delight bought from patisseries, zingy freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice from ‘vitamin bars’, fried-fish sandwiches from streetstalls near the Galata Bridge or plates heaped with mezze.

Our favourite places included Ciya Sofrasi in Kadikoy (on the Asian side) for incredibly flavourful and cheap food – help-yourself mezze bar with the most divine roasted red pepper paste and stuffed roast onions and a canteen-style section of hot food with dishes such as lentil soup and stewed spinach, Karakoy Lokantasi in Karakoy with its pretty turquoise-tiled interior and tasty mezze such as roast veg with thick, sour yoghurt, and Guney Restaurant (a more touristy vibe but a great setting just under the Galata Tower) for fried dill cakes and red peppers stuffed with rice, nuts and currants. The lively Nevizade Street, close to Istiklal, is packed with restaurants. We really liked Neyle Meyle for its fish mezzes (the whitefish in basil sauce was particularly good) and Armenian dishes such as topik, a spiced layered chickpea pate.

* Disclaimer: we don’t eat meat, so that’s why these restaurant reviews are very mezze-heavy! The meat at the places I mentioned looked good though.

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