Istanbul: Two Continents, One City, No Shortage of Opinions on Which Side to Stay On

The ferry from Karakoy to Kadikoy takes 20 minutes and costs almost nothing, and for that price it gives you the best view of the Istanbul skyline – the minarets and the dome of Hagia Sophia, the towers of Topkapi, the whole layered medieval-Ottoman-modern panorama – from a deck with fish sandwich vendors and tea sellers working the crowd. That crossing is a better introduction to what Istanbul actually is than anything in the Sultanahmet tourist district. The city has 15 million people and roughly 15 million tourists a year; the balance between the two is more interesting on the water than it is on the ground.

Istanbul sits across two continents with the Bosphorus running through the middle. The historic peninsula of Sultanahmet, where the Ottoman and Byzantine monuments cluster, is on the European side. Beyoglu, the 19th-century European-influenced district north of the Golden Horn, is also European. The Asian side – Kadikoy, Uskudar – is where Istanbullus live and eat without tourists, and it’s considerably more revealing than the guidebook circuit.

Hagia Sophia

Built 532-537 CE under Emperor Justinian, it was the largest church in the world for nearly a thousand years. Converted to a mosque in 1453 after Mehmed II’s conquest of Constantinople, converted to a museum by Ataturk in 1934, then reconverted to a mosque in 2020 in a decision that was politically significant both inside and outside Turkey. Entry now requires a separate €25 ticket and modest dress: shoulders and knees covered, women wearing a headscarf (free coverings available at the entrance), shoes removed before entering.

The logistics matter: the site is usually open 9am to 7pm but closes to tourists during prayer times, including Friday prayer. Arrive 30 minutes before opening to get in before the tour groups. The mosaic in the southwest vestibule – Justinian and Constantine presenting the city and a church model to the Virgin Mary, dating from the 10th century – is one of the finest pieces of Byzantine art in existence, and most visitors walk straight past it heading for the main nave. Don’t. The galleries, accessible from the main floor, have additional mosaic panels including the Deesis, a composition of Christ flanked by the Virgin and John the Baptist that is Byzantine art at its most controlled and affecting.

Topkapi Palace

The Ottoman sultans’ main palace from 1465 to 1856, now a museum. A combined ticket for the Palace, Harem, and Hagia Irene now runs around 1,500 Turkish Lira (roughly €45 at current rates – TRY is volatile and prices change with inflation, so verify before visiting). The Palace is closed Tuesdays; open 9am-6pm other days, last entry 5pm.

The Harem section requires separate queuing and is worth the extra effort. The treasury section holds the Topkapi Dagger (three enormous emeralds on the handle, 1747) and the Spoonmaker’s Diamond – an 86-carat diamond surrounded by 49 smaller diamonds, allegedly found in a rubbish heap in the 17th century. The scale of the jewels is genuinely extreme in a way that descriptions don’t capture. The fourth courtyard views of the Bosphorus and Golden Horn are the best in the city.

Arrive at 9am and go directly to the Harem before tour groups arrive. Alternatively, visit after 3pm when the morning rush has cleared.

Beyond Sultanahmet

The Egyptian (Spice) Bazaar near Eminonu is more manageable than the Grand Bazaar and more food-focused. Good for sumac, dried figs, pistachio baklava, and loose-leaf tea. The Galata Bridge connecting Eminonu to Beyoglu is perpetually lined with fishing rods at all hours; the restaurants in the bridge’s lower level are basic, cheap, and serve fresh fish.

Beyoglu: Istiklal Cadde is the main commercial street – busy, loud, worth passing through rather than lingering on. The Pera Palas hotel, opened 1892 for Orient Express passengers, is worth seeing even without a reservation. Agatha Christie wrote parts of Murder on the Orient Express in room 411. The Pera Museum nearby has a strong collection of Turkish and Ottoman-period paintings.

Kadikoy: Take the ferry from Eminonu or Karakoy (15-20 minutes, very cheap with an Istanbulkart). The market area around Kadikoy has the best street food in Istanbul: kokore (spiced lamb intestines in a bread roll, more appealing than it sounds), midye dolma (stuffed mussels sold from street carts for almost nothing each), and balik ekmek (grilled fish in bread sold directly from boats moored at the Eminonu waterfront). These are daily-life foods, not tourist approximations of them.

Eating

Turkish breakfast is an institution – small plates of cheeses, olives, tomato, cucumber, honeycomb, tahini paste, jams, and eggs, served with endless tea. Van Kahvalti Evi in Beyoglu is the reference: around 300-400 TRY per person. Worth doing once; the format is generous and unhurried.

Ciya Sofrasi in Kadikoy is a Michelin-recommended casual restaurant serving Anatolian regional cooking that changes daily based on what was available at the Kadikoy market that morning. Mains around 200-300 TRY. The cooking here represents food traditions from different Turkish regions that have largely disappeared from Istanbul’s restaurant scene elsewhere. The menu description is more important than any specific recommendation because what’s excellent changes seasonally.

Getting Around

The Istanbulkart (contactless travel card, rechargeable from machines at stations) works on metro, tram, bus, and ferry for flat fares. The T1 tram from Kabatas to Sultanahmet is the most useful single route for visitors. The ferry across the Bosphorus costs around 30 TRY and is the best way to experience the city’s geography. The Museum Pass Istanbul covers Topkapi, Hagia Sophia, and several other sites and is worth buying if you’re doing multiple monuments.