Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City

by Hilary Sumner-Boyd, John Freely

Overview

'The best travel guide to Istanbul' - The Times

Practical and informative, readable and vividly described, this is the definitive guide to and story of Istanbul, by those who know it best.

This is the 2009 revised and updated edition of the classic guide to Istanbul, originally published thirty-seven years previously, which continues to inform and enchant visitors.

Taking the reader on foot through this captivating city - European City of Culture 2010 - the authors describe the historic monuments and sites of what was once Constantinople and the capital in turn of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, in the context of the great living city.

Woven throughout are vivid anecdotes, secret histories, hidden gems and every major place of interest the traveller will want to see.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857730053
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	11/30/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

The late Hilary Sumner-Boyd was professor of humanities at Robert College, Bosphorus University. His magisterial work, The Seven Hills of Constantinople: A Study of the Byzantine and Turkish Monuments of the City, was unpublished at the time of his death in 1977 but has since been published by Bosphorus University Press.

John Freely (1926-2017) was one of the most widely respected writers of travel books, histories and guides about Greece and Turkey. His works include The Grand Turk, Storm on Horseback, Children of Achilles, The Cyclades, The Ionian Islands, The Western Shores of Turkey, Strolling through Athens, Strolling through Venice and the bestselling Strolling through Istanbul (all I.B. Tauris).
Hilary Sumner-Boyd was professor of humanities at Robert College, Bosphorus University.
John Freely (1926-2017) was born in New York and joined the US Navy at the age of seventeen, serving with a commando unit in Burma and China during the last years of World War II. He has lived in New York, Boston, London, Athens and Istanbul and has written over thirty travel books and guides, most of them about Greece and Turkey.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Plans
List of Plates
Notes on Turkish Words and Spelling
Turkish Spelling
Acknowledgements
Preface to the Revised Edition
Preface to the First Edition

1. The View from the Bridge
2. From the Galata Bridge to Haghia Sophia
3. Haghia Sophia
4. Topkapi Sarayi
5. Through the Outer Gardens of the Saray
6. Around the Blue Mosque
7. From Haghia Sophia to Beyazit Square
8. Through the Markets and Bazaars
9. Around Beyazit and Sehzadebasi
10. The Süleymaniye
11. From the Galata Bridge to Sehzadebasi
12. Around the Mosque of the Conqueror
13. The Fifth and Sixth Hills
14. Kariye Camii
15. Along the Golden Horn
16. The Seventh Hill
17. Along the Land Walls
18. Up the Golden Horn to Eyüp
19. Üsküdar and the Princes' Islands
20. Pera and Galata
21. The Lower Bosphorus' European Shore
22. The Bosphorus
23. A Last Stroll

Appendices
Byzantine Emperors
Ottoman Sultans
Notes on Byzantine Architectural Forms
Glossary of Turkish Architectural Terms
Sinan's Extant Works in Istanbul

Indexes

Editorial Reviews

The best travel guide to Istanbul” —The Times

“A guide book that reads like a novel” —The New York Times

From the Publisher

"As a guide to the city, John was peerless; it is doubtful whether any westerner in the late 20th century had a better understanding of it than he.
... What makes Strolling Through Istanbul so unusual is its combination of erudition and first-hand observation."

Derek Johns