Cağaloğlu Hamam is a historic Turkish bathhouse located in the Istanbul district of Fatih, renowned for its stunning Ottoman architecture, elaborate marble interiors, and traditional bath rituals that date back centuries, offering a luxurious and authentic experience to its guests. The hammam provides Turkish bath services to both men and women, but in separate sections of the hammam.
Self-described as a purveryor of fireside cuisine, restaurant Ali Ocakbasi offers a slightly elevated presentation of classic Anatolian cuisine with a modern personality, with an emphasis on grilled meat and fish. All their locations, in Istanbul’s most iconic neighborhoods, are tastefully decorated and boast areas for open air dining with fantastic views of the Bosphorus or Golden Horn.
The Basilica Cistern is one of several hundred ancient cisterns lying beneath the city of Istanbul. It was built in the 6th century by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. After more than years of closure for renovation, the popular tourist attraction reopened in 2022.
Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı is located inside a mosque complex, just a few steps from the Tophane tram stop in Beyoglu. Abandoned for years, it was recently renovated and returned to its original glory. It displays classic hammam architecture with a striking lines dominated by a magnificent dome crowning the large göbektaşı below..
There of dozens of Byzantine era cisterns located throughout Istanbul’s ancient city’s foundations but the largest and most notable is the Basilica Cistern which was closed at the onset of the pandemic and remains closed for extensive renovations until an undesignated future date. The most notable of the other cisterns is the Cistern of Theodosius which remains open to the public as a museum.
Six years after the conquest of Constantinople, Sultan Ahmed II constructed a palace as his new personal residence which remained the residence of the Ottoman empire’s sultans and the center of administrative function of the empire for four centuries until the construction and occupation of the more modern and accommodating Dolmabahçe Palace by Sultan Abdulmejid I in 1856 (following 13 years of construction on the palace).