After nine days travelling throughout Turkey we departed the Aegean port of Kusadasi via Izmir (ancient Smyrna) to Istanbul, the only city in the world spanning two continents. Here ancient and modern worlds coexist in cosmopolitan scenes of breathtaking beauty. Seventeen million people live in this city built on seven hills, dissected by the beautiful Bosphorus Strait which marks the border between Europe and Asia, connects the Black and Marmara Seas, flows into...

Imperious Istanbul is a golden city. Arriving just after dawn on a mild summer's morning, we drove along the Marmara Sea coastline and then across the Golden Horn to the first hill in the historic old city. Around every corner something ancient and timeless appears to the observant traveller - the red stone Haghia Sophia (Church of Holy Wisdom), the six spired blue tiled Sultan Ahmed mosque, a 13th century BC Egyptian obelisk, its hieroglyphics towering over the ...

Incredible Istanbul! 14 million people -10 million tourists - 12000 tour guides - 3000 mosques. Islam has been the religious and cultural faith and force in Anatolia (Turkey from 1923) since the capture of Constantinople in 1453 by the Ottoman conqueror Mehmet the 2nd. Once the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and the centre of Byzantine Christianity, minaret spires not steeples now dominate the skyline of the city built on seven hills; the only city built on ...