Two Continentsİstanbul.

A 67-metre cylindrical tower built by the Genoese in 1348 as the tallest point of their Galata colony — a self-contained commercial republic across the Golden Horn from Constantinople, which maintained its independence through shrewd commercial diplomacy with both the Byzantine and Ottoman powers. The tower gives the finest 360° panoramic view of Istanbul: the domes and minarets of Sultanahmet to the south, the Golden Horn below, the Bosphorus to the east, and the spread of the European city stretching north. The queue is long in summer — book online for a time slot.

The main pedestrian boulevard of European Istanbul — 1.4km from Taksim Square to Galata, served by a historic tram (the nostalgic T2 line, dating to the 1870s). The street itself is lined with 19th-century European-style buildings (the Ottoman elite hired French, Italian and Austrian architects in the late 19th century). The essential discovery: the arcade passages (pasajlar) that branch off İstiklal — Çiçek Pasajı (the Flower Passage, 1876, now a restaurant arcade), Balık Pazarı (the Fish Market), and the Hazzopulo, Rumeli and Avrupa pasajları, each a different century of covered arcade in various states of preservation and occupation.

Designed by Mimar Sinan in 1584 for Nurbanu Sultan — one of the oldest continuously operating hammams in Istanbul, with the original domed bathing hall, marble platforms (göbek taşı — navel stone), star-shaped skylights casting light circles through steam, and the full sequence of hot room, warm room and cool room. The kese (exfoliating scrub) and köpük masajı (foam massage) are the standard package. The ancient marble and the contemporary tourist operation coexist in the same steamy hall. Bring nothing — towels, clogs and soap provided.

The public ferry from Eminönü or Karaköy to Kadıköy on the Asian shore — one of the great cheap journeys in the world. For €0.50 (one İstanbulkart token), a 20-minute crossing of the Bosphorus, looking back at the complete Istanbul skyline as it recedes: the domes of Sultanahmet, the Galata Tower, the minarets of the Süleymaniye, and the thin line of the Bosphorus Bridge in the distance. Kadıköy itself is the most vibrant neighbourhood in Istanbul — a street market, independent shops, the best food stalls in the city, and no significant tourist industry.

The City Lines (Şehir Hatları) long Bosphorus route from Eminönü to Anadolu Kavağı near the Black Sea — a 90-minute journey that passes both shores of the strait, the Ottoman palaces (Dolmabahçe, Beylerbeyi), the Rumeli and Anadolu fortresses where Mehmed II positioned his cannon to blockade Byzantine supply ships before the 1453 conquest, the Bosphorus Bridge, the first suspension bridge to cross between Europe and Asia. The public ferry costs approximately €2 each way. Tourist "Bosphorus cruise" boats charge €20–40 for an inferior experience on the same water.

Mimar Sinan considered this the finest thing he built — not the Blue Mosque (built 50 years later by a different architect) but the Süleymaniye, commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent and completed in 1558 after seven years of construction. The interior is the most refined Islamic space in Istanbul: a single vast dome 53 metres high on four elephant-foot columns, restrained Ottoman Iznik tile decoration (not the polychromatic excess of the Blue Mosque), and the specific quality of filtered light through stained glass designed to create a golden interior at prayer times. Sinan and Suleiman the Magnificent are both buried in the mosque garden.