Just as the city belongs equally to the West and to the East, to Islam and to Christianity, the great mosques that loom up before you embody its duality: Hagia Sophia once a great Christian Church, built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian; the Blue Mosque, the very quintessence of Islamic architecture, directly inspired by Hagia Sophia.
Istanbul never forgets that it was once Constantinople.
I have come to this extraordinary city to stay at the Çiragan Palace Hotel, which looks out over all of this with panoramic breadth.
Read more on The Express: Submerse Yourself in History with Every Turn in Istanbul
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