Overview

Tour information:Layover Daily Tour in Istanbul (Istanbul Daily Tours)

Tour Type: Layover Daily Tour in Istanbul is one of Private Istanbul Daily Tours.
Tour Meeting Point: Airport or Hotel Lobby
Tour Pick Up Time At.Depart From Airport After Exit (approx.).
Tour Finishes at.: Arrival to Airport (approx.).
Tour Duration.: 5 - 6 hrs.

Layover Daily Tour in Istanbul will be started after you exit the from Airport or from your hotel to airport.

Leaving from Ataturk Airport in Istanbul and arrive to old city centre is about 30 - 40 minutes.

·         Layover Daily Tour in Istanbul covers the sites as follow

·         Blue Mosque

·         Hippodrome

·         German Fountain

·         Serpentine Column

·         Obelisk of Theodosius

·         Topkapi Palace or St. Sophia Museum

·         Grand Covered Bazaar

At the end of the layover tour return to Ataturk Airport or sabiha gökçen

İncludes

-VIP Car and professional driver



History About Places

Hippodrome: The former center forentertainment, sports and political activities in the city during theRoman and Bzyantine Empires. You will be able to see the Obelisk fromEgypt, Serpentine Column from Delphi and fountain of Willhelm II.
St.Sophia: The Church of Holy Wisdom,undoubtedly one of the greatest architectural creations in the World used as amosque during Ottomans and serving as a museum today

Blue Mosque: One of the biggest mosques ofIstanbul from 17th century architecture is one of the principaladornments on the skyline of Istanbul. Also famous for its blue tiles and6 minarest.
Grand Bazaar:The oldest and the largest coveredmarket place in the World with nearly 4.000 shops fuul of richcollections of carpets, jewellery, leather, and souvenirs.
Closed : Topkapi Palace is closed on Tuesday, thistour will be replaced with the Two Continents Tour
Grand Bazaar is closed on Sunday.
Litle Hagia Sophia Mosque:  
Istanbul's LittleHagia Sophia Mosque (Küçük Ayasofya Camii), a 10-minute walk downhill southwestfrom the Sultanahmet (Blue)Mosque (map), wasbuilt in the 530s as the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus bythe Byzantine Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora.

Topkapi Palace: Thegreat palace of the Ottoman sultans from the 15th to the 19th centuries housingan exquisite collection of cyrstal, silver, and Chinese porcelain, robesworn by the sultans and their families, the famous jewels of the ImperialTreasury, miniatures, the Holy Mantle; enshrining relics of the ProphetMohammed

German Fountain:
The GermanFountain (TurkishAlmanÇeşmesi German: DeutscherBrunnen) is a gazebo styledfountain in the northern end of oldhippodrome (Sultanahmet Square), IstanbulTurkey andacross from the Mausoleum of Sultan Ahmed I. Itwas constructed to commemorate the second anniversary of GermanEmperor WilhelmII'svisit to Istanbul in 1898. It was built in Germany, then transported piece bypiece and assembled in its current site in 1900. The neo-Byzantinestyle fountain's octagonal dome haseight marble columns,and dome's interior is covered with golden mosaics.

Basillica Cistern:

The name of this subterranean structurederives from a large public square on the First Hill of Constantinople, the Stoa Basilica,beneath which it was originally constructed.[2] Before being converted to a cistern, agreat Basilica stood in itsplace, built between the 3rd and 4th centuries during the Early Roman Age as acommercial, legal and artistic centre.[1] The basilica was reconstructed by Illus after a fire in476.

Ancient texts indicated that the basilicacontained gardens, surrounded by a colonnade and facing the Hagia Sophia.[1] According to ancient historians, Emperor Constantine built a structurethat was later rebuilt and enlarged by Emperor Justinian after the Nika riots of 532, whichdevastated the city.

Historical texts claim that 7,000 slaveswere involved in the construction of the cistern.[1]

The enlarged cistern provided a waterfiltration system for the GreatPalace of Constantinople and other buildings on the First Hill, andcontinued to provide water to the Topkapi Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 and intomodern times.