Istanbul Old City: Basilica Cistern - Blue Mosque - Grand Bazaar
Istanbul
Price: €30
Min age: 7
Rating 4.84 / 5 [45 ratings]
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With its 53m-high dome and trademark slender minarets, this is Istanbul’s grandest mosque and a Byzantine beauty.
Modelled on the Hagia Sophia and designed by the greatest Ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan, it was built in 1558 for the most powerful of Ottoman sultans, Suleyman I, also known as ‘The Magnificent’, and houses the mausoleums of both the sultan and Mimar Sinan.
It’s a short walk from the Grand Bazaar/University area (nearest tram stop: Beyazit): get there by way of the evocative Prof Siddik Sami Onar Caddesi, lined with historic teahouses.
Dress respectfully (long trousers and shirt with sleeves for men; knee-length skirt, sleeves and a headscarf for women) and be prepared to leave your shoes at the entrance.
The mosque is open all year round, seven days a week, except during prayers (half an hour after the call to prayer). Also avoid the main services on Friday mornings and early afternoons, unless you’re a Muslim.
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Istanbul
Price: €30
Min age: 7
Rating 4.84 / 5 [45 ratings]
Tour supplied by:
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Min age: 7
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Marmara Region, Turkey
Exotic, inexhaustible and dynamic – East meets West head-on in this mesmerising city metropolis, famed for its extraordinarily rich history, superb food and shopping, and mind-blowingly magnificent, over-sized mosques.