Hagia Sophia – Istanbul
Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia is the most important Byzantine structure and one of the world’s great monuments. This incredible structure has been a church for 916 years, a mosque for 482 years and now a museum for for over 82 years!
Dolmabahçe Palace – Istanbul
Fourteen tonnes of gold leaf building in the ceilings and the largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal chandeliers – including world’s largest Bohemian crystal chandelier in the Ceremonial Hall (Muayede Salonu); a gift from Queen Victoria, this chandelier holds 750 lamps originally powered with city gas converted to electricity in 1912 and weighs 4.5 tonnes – Dolmabahçe Sarayi (meaning filled garden) was ordered by Sultan Abdülmecid (1839-61) to compete with the grandness of European capitals.
İstanbul Üniversitesi
Istanbul university originally, established in 1453 under the Ottoman empire as “House of Multiple Sciences” the campus was re-structured in 1925 into a modern university by the most non-other then Atatürk!
Sultanahmet Mosque – Istanbul
Commonly, it is known as the Blue Mosque, The Sultanahmet Mosque is on the must see list of any good site-seeing tour of Istanbul. It is a true marvel and a testament to builders of another age. The complexities of its vaults and tiling is a site to behold.
Visible from many spots around Istanbul, the Sultanahmet Mosque dominates the skyline.
