Category: Istanbul Attractions

Hagia Sophia is a working mosque, officially Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Serifi, and has been since July 2020. Since January 2024 foreign visitors have followed a separate ticketed route through the upper gallery, priced at 25 euro, entered from a booth opposite the Fountain of Ahmed III rather than through the worshippers’ door. Prayer in the […]

The Istanbul bucket list comes down to a handful of unmissable things. See Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, sail the Bosphorus at sunset, get scrubbed in a Turkish bath, haggle in the Grand Bazaar and eat your way through the city’s food. Most of the essentials sit close together in the old city and […]