Free Walking Sightseeing Tour #5 in İstanbul, Turkey

Dragut was an Ottoman corsair, naval commander, governor, and noble. Under his command, the Ottoman Empire's maritime power was extended across North Africa. Recognized for his military genius, and as being among "the most dangerous" of corsairs, Dragut has been referred to as "the greatest pirate warrior of all time", "undoubtedly the most able of all the Turkish leaders", and "the uncrowned king of the Mediterranean". He was nicknamed "the Drawn Sword of Islam". He was described by a French admiral as "a living chart of the Mediterranean, skillful enough on land to be compared to the finest generals of the time" and that "no one was more worthy than he to bear the name of king". Hayreddin Barbarossa, who was his mentor, stated that Dragut was ahead of him "both in fishing and bravery".

Wikipedia: Dragut (EN)

The Ahırkapı Feneri, a historical lighthouse still in use, is located at the southern Seraglio Point on the Rumelian coast of Bosporus' south entrance, in Ahırkapı neighborhood of Istanbul's Fatih district, Turkey. It is across from the Kadıköy İnciburnu Feneri, which is on the Anatolian coast of the strait at a distance of 1.5 nmi (2.8 km). A line connecting the two lighthouses marks the southern boundary of the Port of Istanbul.

Wikipedia: Ahırkapı Feneri (EN)

The Great Palace Mosaic Museum, is located close to Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul, Turkey, at Arasta Bazaar. The museum houses mosaics from the Byzantine period, unearthed at the site of the Great Palace of Constantinople.

Wikipedia: Great Palace Mosaic Museum (EN), Website

The Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum is a museum located in Sultanahmet Square in Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Constructed in 1524, the building was formerly the palace of Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha, who was the second grand vizier to Suleiman the Magnificent, and was once thought to have been the husband of the Sultan's sister, Hatice Sultan.

Wikipedia: Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum (EN), Website

The Cistern of Philoxenos, or Binbirdirek Cistern, is a man-made subterranean reservoir in Istanbul, situated between the Forum of Constantine and the Hippodrome of Constantinople in the Sultanahmet district. It has been restored and is now visited as a tourist attraction. The entrance is located at İmran Öktem Sokak 4. Binbirdirek Cistern is the second largest cistern in Istanbul after the Basilica Cistern.

Wikipedia: Cistern of Philoxenos (EN)

The Theodosius Cistern is one of many ancient cisterns of Constantinople that lie beneath the city of Istanbul, Turkey. The modern entrance is in Piyer Loti Caddesi, Fatih.

Wikipedia: Theodosius Cistern (EN), Website

The TGC Press Media Museum, aka Istanbul Press Media Museum, is a history and technology museum dedicated to mass communication in Turkey featuring exhibitions about journalism. It is located in the Çemberlitaş neighborhood of Fatih district in Istanbul, Turkey. Established in 1988, it is owned and operated by the Journalists Association of Turkey.

Wikipedia: TGC Press Media Museum (EN)

The Column of Constantine is a monumental column commemorating the dedication of Constantinople by Roman emperor Constantine the Great on 11 May 330 AD. Completed c. 328 AD, it is the oldest Constantinian monument to survive in Istanbul. The column stood in the centre of the Forum of Constantine, on the second-highest of the seven hills of Nova Roma, and was midway along the Mese odos, the ancient city's main thoroughfare.

Wikipedia: Column of Constantine (EN)

The Nuruosmaniye Mosque is an 18th-century Ottoman mosque located in the Çemberlitaş neighbourhood of Fatih district in Istanbul, Turkey, which was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey in 2016.

Wikipedia: Nuruosmaniye Mosque (EN)

Cezeri Kasım Pasha Mosque is a mosque built by Cezeri Kasım Pasha in the Cağaloğlu district of the Fatih district of Istanbul.

Wikipedia: Cezeri Kasım Paşa Camii (TR)

The German Fountain is a gazebo styled fountain in the northern end of old hippodrome, Istanbul, Turkey and across from the Mausoleum of Sultan Ahmed I. It was constructed to commemorate the second anniversary of German Emperor Wilhelm II's visit to Istanbul in 1898. It was built in Germany, then transported piece by piece and assembled in its current site in 1900. The neo-Byzantine style fountain's octagonal dome has eight marble columns, and dome's interior is covered with golden mosaics.

Wikipedia: German Fountain (EN)

The Blue Mosque in Istanbul, also known by its official name, the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today. It also attracts a large number of tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture.

Wikipedia: Sultan Ahmed Mosque (EN)

The Milion was a marker from which all distances across the Roman Empire were measured. Erected by Septimus Severus in the 3rd century AD in Byzantium, it was the Byzantine zero-mile marker, the starting-place for the measurement of distances for all the roads leading to the cities of the Byzantine Empire. It thus served the same function as the Golden Milestone in Rome's forum. The domed building of the Milion rested on four large arches, and it was expanded and decorated with several statues and paintings. It survived the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 but had disappeared by the start of the 16th century. During excavations in the 1960s, some partial fragments of it were discovered under houses in the area.

Wikipedia: Milion (EN)

Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque, a former church and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in 537 AD. The site was an Eastern Orthodox church from 360 AD to 1204, when it was converted to a Catholic church following the Fourth Crusade. It was reclaimed in 1261 and remained Eastern Orthodox until the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It served as a mosque until 1935, when it became a museum. In 2020, the site once again became a mosque.

Wikipedia: Hagia Sophia (EN), Website, Heritage Website

The Topkapı Palace, or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire, and was the main residence of its sultans.

Wikipedia: Topkapı Palace (EN), Website

The Istanbul Archaeology Museums are a group of three archaeological museums located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, near Gülhane Park and Topkapı Palace. These museums house over one million objects from nearly all periods and civilizations in world history.

Wikipedia: Istanbul Archaeology Museums (EN), Website

The Museum of the Ancient Orient is a museum in Istanbul, and part of the group of Istanbul Archaeology Museums, located just in front of the main Archaeology Museum building. The building of the museum is in the ancient College of Fine Arts, commissioned by Osman Hamdi Bey in 1883. The museum itself was established in 1935.

Wikipedia: Museum of the Ancient Orient (EN)

Gülhane Park is a historical urban park in the Eminönü district of Istanbul, Turkey; it is adjacent to and on the grounds of the Topkapı Palace. The south entrance of the park sports one of the larger gates of the palace. It is the oldest and one of the most expansive public parks in Istanbul.

Wikipedia: Gülhane Park (EN)