The city

The city on two continents

Greek settlers founded Byzantium on the Bosphorus around 660 BC. In 330 the Roman emperor Constantine made it his capital, Constantinople. The Ottomans took the city in 1453 and ruled an empire from it for nearly five centuries. Today Istanbul lies on two continents, with Europe on one shore of the strait and Asia on the other.

“I'd fly from Europe to Asia in one throw.”

The landmark

The Galata Tower

Genoese merchants built the stone Galata Tower in 1348, on the hill above the Golden Horn. The Ottomans later used it to watch for fires across the wooden city. The writer Evliya Çelebi tells that around 1630 a man named Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi jumped from its top on home-made wings and glided across the Bosphorus.

Neighbourhoods

Istanbul has 39 districts, 25 in Europe and 14 in Asia, and about 15.7 million people. The old city sits on the historic peninsula, which, like Rome, is said to stand on seven hills. North of the Golden Horn, İstiklal Avenue runs about 1.4 km through Beyoğlu, from Taksim Square to Tünel Square. On the Asian shore, Kadıköy stands on the site of Chalcedon, a Greek town founded a few years before Byzantium.

The Bosphorus and the Golden Horn

The Bosphorus is about 31 km long and only about 700 metres wide at its narrowest point. The first bridge across it opened in October 1973, 50 years after the Republic was founded. The Golden Horn is a narrow inlet about 7.5 km long that makes a sheltered harbour on the European side. The Galata Bridge, 490 metres long, crosses it near its mouth. The Maiden's Tower stands on a tiny islet about 200 metres off Üsküdar.

The skyline

The old city is known for its domes and minarets. Hagia Sophia was built as a church from 532 to 537, and it was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years. The Blue Mosque, finished in 1616, has six minarets and more than 20,000 blue İznik tiles inside. The Süleymaniye Mosque, by the architect Mimar Sinan, crowns the third hill. On the Asian side, the 369-metre Çamlıca Tower, opened in 2021, is the tallest structure in the city.

When to see it

Stand on the Galata Bridge at sunset, when the domes and minarets turn to dark shapes against a red sky. Fishermen line its rails all day.

Two keepers

Who keeps the wish in Istanbul.

An Elite wakes first; the Boss guards the wish itself. Hit their weak points for a BONK!, land the last blow for a KO!, and each one grins and takes a bow.

The Elite
The Simit Gull

Never paid for a simit · Keeper of the Bosphorus ferries

Gulls follow Istanbul's ferries across the Bosphorus every day, and passengers throw them pieces of simit, the sesame bread rings sold from street carts. The boldest birds catch them in mid-air, and some take them straight from people's hands.

The gull lifts its head, simit in its beak, and gives the plane a sideways look. The gull squawks and loses a feather, but keeps hold of the simit. The gull bows. The flock snatches the simit, and it stares into its empty beak.

“I'd save it a piece of mine.”
The Boss
Karagöz

Always has the last word · Keeper of the Golden Horn

Karagöz is the loud, plain-spoken hero of Turkish shadow theatre. In every play he argues with his learned friend Hacivat, and he usually gets the last laugh. In 2009 the Karagöz tradition joined UNESCO's list of the world's living heritage.

Karagöz raises one finger, clears his throat and starts to argue with the plane. Karagöz staggers, grabs his hat and keeps talking. Karagöz stops talking at last, sweeps off his hat and bows low.

“I'd let him have the last word.”