Who said that if you are on business trip, you are not allowed to feel a bit like a tourist? When your meeting is over, and you have rest of a day to spare, don’t sit in your hotel, go to see some attractions, eat local food, meet new people. If you are making business in Istanbul, you are lucky one. Even if you are staying just for a weekend, you will be charmed by this city.
Hagia Sophia
This is one of the famous heritages in the whole world. It was build in sixth century as a Christian Church, after invasion of Ottoman empire it was converted into Muslim mosque. Nowadays inside you will fin a museum. Signature of Hagia Sophia are spectacular, Byzantine mosaics and frescoes, renovated very well. Arabic emperors saved them, even that they illustrate Christians Saints.
Galat Tower
This build in fourteenth century observation point, is good example of Italian architecture outside the Apennines Mountains. It was raised by merchants from Genoa, to protect their area from Muslim occupants. Since 1967 it is open for tourists, you will find here restaurant, gifts shops, club and viewpoint. You could observe there quite big panorama of the Istanbul.
Grand Bazaar
It is the biggest covered market square in the whole country. You will find here over 3000 shops offers mostly everything: spices, vegetables and fruits, clothes, watches and so on. It is the most popular tourist spot in the planet – every year over ninety millions travelers are shopping here. But if you are looking for spirit of traditional, Arabic markets, it is not a right place, sellers won’t negotiate prices of their products with you.
Golden Horn
This majestic Bosphorus bay use to be favorite spot for many artists from all around the world. They were staying at hotels situated nearby, watching the spectacular panorama from balcony, and painting it, write poems about it and so on. If you have enough time, you can go for a ship cruise along the bay, to admire beautiful view over Istanbul. Also, you will find in this area a lot of public beaches, where you can get some tan and swim in the sea.
Sultan Ahmed Mosque
This splendorous sacral building, is one of the biggest attraction of the Istanbul. It was raised in 1616, and became one of the biggest Muslim church in the world. In contrast to many others mosques all around the globe, it is open for tourist, so even if you aren’t Allah believer, you are able to enter this Temple. But make sure you are dressed up properly, cover your knees and arms if you don’t want to hurt feelings of Arabs praying inside.
As you may see, Istanbul is really nice, exotic city with a lot of heritages and attractions. So maybe try to schedule few trips around town in you busy timetable, you won’t regret it.