Dear Traveler, Welcome to the WanderStories™ tour of the top 3 sights in Istanbul: Topkapi Palace, the Hagia Sophia, and the Blue Mosque. We are now ready to take you on your personal tour of these world famous landmarks. We will also tell you additional stories about Istanbul’s history, Turkish traditions and customs, holidays, Turkish hammam, cuisine, jokes, Islam in Turkey, and traditional Turkish handicrafts. We, at WanderStories™, are storytellers. We don’t tell you where to eat or sleep, we don’t intend to replace a typical travel reference guide. Our mission is to be the best local guide that you would wish to have by your side when visiting the sights. So, we meet you at the sight and take you on a tour. WanderStories™ travel guides are unique because our storytelling style puts you alongside the best local guide who tells you fascinating stories and unusual facts recreating the passion and sacrifice that forged the beauty of these places right here in front of you, while a wealth of high quality photos, historic pictures, and illustrations brings your tour vividly to life. Our promise: • when you visit these top 3 sights in Istanbul with this travel guide you will have the best local guide at your fingertips • when you read this travel guide in the comfort of your armchair you will feel as if you are actually visiting these top 3 sights in Istanbul with the best local guide The city that we now know as Istanbul has been known by many different names throughout its long history. It was founded in 667 B.C.E. as Byzantium. Then, in 330, the Roman Emperor Constantine I christened it as New Rome. Later, it would come to bear his own name and be known as Constantinople, which was then rendered into Arabic languages as Kostantiniyye, which the Ottomans also adopted. The city was destined to finally be known in our modern age as Istanbul, derived from a Greek phrase meaning, simply, to the city. So much has changed over the time those names spanned that it seems impossible they could possibly refer to only one city. Yet they do, and the city of Istanbul is still a vibrant place that treasures the artifacts of the various peoples who once lived here and knew it by such different names. One phrase has also been used to name the city: “The City of the World’s Desire.” If judges could pick the most appropriate name for the city, perhaps they would choose this one, as it reflects most accurately how famous and how loved the city has been since antiquity. The face of Istanbul has changed considerably inside the modern nation. Justinian’s masterpiece, the Hagia Sophia, was turned into a museum and its wonderful mosaics were revealed to the world once more in 1935. Two bridges now span the Bosporus, and along with the historic skyline of the old city there are now also skyscrapers. Today, the city’s importance in world history is indisputable, and it is difficult to believe that all of this long history concerns just one city. There is only one thing to do now – visit! Let’s go! Your guide, WanderStories