Duration:  Full day / Istanbul from 09:00 p.m. to 05:00 p.m.

Tour summary: Hippodrome, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace and Grand Bazaar

Your private licensed tour guide will meet you at your hotel, airport or cruise ship and accompany you to the Sultanahmet District, in the heart of old Istanbul.

Hippodrome; once the centre of Byzantine civic life, it is still decorated by the Egyptian Obelisk, the Bronze Serpentine Column, and the Column of Constantine. Blue Mosque is known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior.

Hagia Sophia is a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, now a museum. Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until the completion of the Medieval Seville Cathedral in 1520.
Topkapı Palace is the former imperial residence from where the great Ottoman Empire was ruled for 400 years. Today, it is a spectacular museum with one of the largest collections of Chinese and Japanese porcelain and the very famous treasury of the Ottoman Sultans, Grand Bazaar; with nearly four thousand shops exhibiting a rich collection of precious handmade carpets, jewelry, leather, antiques, and souvenirs. We finish up the day at the famous Grand Bazaar which is one of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 4,000 shops, and has between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily.