As They Might Be Giants so chateringly put it, Istanbul (not Constantinople) is a bit of Turkish delight on a moonlit night. Few can fail to fall under the magical spell of its glorious location and breathtakingly beautiful buildings, all drenched with the irresistible allure of a thrillingly action-packed history, Confusingly possessing three different names at various times over the centuries (the first being Byzantium), Istanbul has the unique distinction of straddling two continents, Asia and Europe, yet refuses to be defined by either. The picture-postcard Bosphorus (Boğaziçi) separates the suburbs on the Asian shore from the city center on the European side, itself further divided by the Golden Horn (Haliç). Geography and history have dictated the evolution of Istanbul's singular and complex character: East meets west here, and the Islamic past mingles with the modern Europe of today. With bygone eras piled in archaeological layers one on top of the other, history oozes from the city's every pore. On the surface, designer shops and trendy cafes appear and vanish at the speed of light, but underneath another world of architectural splendor remains beautiful and timeless. But in the face of such contrasts, and despite recent decades of ambitious and unsympathetic city planning, Istanbul has somehow managed to hang on to its undeniable charm. Originally one of several Greek colonies clustered around the shores of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara (Marmara Denizi), Byzantium was already up and running by the middle of the 7th century BC, and was more than a thousand years old by the time Constantine the Great established the city (renamed Constantinople) as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire in AD 330. Two hundred years later after a failed insurrection, the emperor Justinian, together with his infamous empress Theodora, set out to recreate a grander and more imposing city than ever before. The jewel in his municipal crown was the newly-built Hagia Sophia (dedicated in 537), which still stands as Istanbul's most distinctive monument...

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