The third courtyard was the Sultan’s private apartments. The first courtyard with the Byzantine church of St Eirene is a magnificent, wooded garden, while the second courtyard, shaded by cypresses and plane trees, houses the palace kitchens, with an exquisite collection of crystal, silver, and Chinese porcelain. TOPKAPI PALACE MUSEUM – overlooking the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn, this maze of buildings was the great palace of the Ottoman Sultans from the 15th to the 19th centuries.The glazed Iznik tiles, which cover the inside walls, have given this magnificent mosque its name. The Mosque was built from 1609 to 1616 under the orders of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmet I. BLUE MOSQUE – a masterpiece of Ottoman architecture and the only mosque in the world to boast six minarets.Now a museum, it is awesome in size and contains beautifully preserved Byzantine mosaics. Built by the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian, circa AD535, it was transformed into a mosque following the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453.

HAGHIA SOPHIA – the Church of the Holy Wisdom, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest buildings in the world.

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