Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City

I bought the last edition of this book 15 years ago, when I was an expat teacher living in Istanbul. Some of my happiest memories of that time are of wandering through the back alleys of the city with this book, early on Saturday mornings before the bustle started. While there are plenty of badly-researched travel guides that give you (an often erroneous) overview, and lots of academic histories of the city big enough stop a truck, this book occupies a unique niche. This is a walking historical tour guide, written by two of the most enthusiastic and literate historians of the city, who actually have lived there most of their lives. Istanbul is not a "pretty" city, it is a chaotic mash-up of old and new, and a quick bus tour of the place may well leave you unmoved. But take a bit of time to learn the histories, the layers to this city, and it becomes an utterly magical, fascinating place. This book helps you do that.I bought the new edition in anticipation of a trip this summer and revisiting some of those old walks, that the city has changed dramatically in the last decade, so a re-write is very welcome. This is not a book for a whirlwind two-day bus tour of the city. Like all worthwhile things, the book requires a bit of time and commitment (read at least parts of it before you go), a willingness to get off the beaten track and visit some out-of-the-way parts of the city, to risk getting lost now and again in ancient, unsigned streets. But, this is Istanbul, Constantinople, Byzantium - really, if you aren't willing to do that, why are you going at all?

The best guide to Istanbul I know of. Immensely detailed walking tours.I've been to Istanbul several times and had no idea what I was looking at even though I used the DK Eyewitness Guide To Istanbul, which is also a wonderful travel guide. This book is so enjoyable that you can read it without even being in Istanbul.If you're traveling to Istanbul you should bring this with you and if you have the space also bring the DK Eyewitness guide which has copious illustrations and cutaway drawings.I think that to do the entire itinerary would take you several days due to the interesting details described and explained, but you could just pick out the major landmarks and skip the rest if you don't have the time.Buy this book!

This is packed full of helpful, critical detail on all the sights (and then some) of the Old City. It is also packed full of history, although the organization is understandably by the geographic sector or street, rather than by chronology.If I were visiting Istanbul for an extended period, or were an academic, the book would rate at least one more star.However, the maps are next to useless, and there are few photographs. There is almost no information on local customs, restaurants and hotels.The book is quite readable, and I enjoyed it, but when my wife and I visit Istanbul for a long weekend, I'm more likely to pack the Lonely Planet guide to Istanbul. That's because it fits in a hip pocket, includes fold out maps, lots of color pictures, and suggestions for restaurants, etc. On the other hand, if I have room for one more book, I may also pack "Strolling Through Istanbul" for all the detail that it includes about the tourist attractions.

I actually never read this large book. I stayed over a month in Istanbul in the middle of the Gezi park area during the protests and it cast a very horrible light on the country. This is also not a country for a single female. The best thing about Turkey is the music, and the Taksim area is amazing for that. But the experience overall was so difficult, filled with heavily armed police forces at all times that I never felt inspired to read this book. Why stay you might ask - the apt was already paid for. And the music was amazing, though not worth dodging tear gas canisters for. I am not kidding. I was almost hit, and they gassed my building, along with the whole area and numerous expensive hotels, fortunately not the Hyatt where I went to swim.

This book is priceless for historically-minded tourists who want to carry with them a detailed explanation of what they are looking at. It covers all the major sites in old Constantinople, and has information on many other historical sites as well. We carried it on our recent (April 2011) trip, and were well pleased with it. Minor drawbacks include somewhat murky maps -- it's a good idea to get a good map, available from various tourist info kiosks -- and some information that apparently wasn't updated from the first edition. But overall this book made our time in Istanbul much better. However, this book is not a practical book like Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, etc. -- you'll need one of those also to help you figure out how to get around, where to stay, and so on.

We visited Istanbul for the first time last Summer. Our hotel was located about 3 short blocks from the Blue Mosque, a perfect spot from which to launch a walking adventure. Our journey was enhanced by notes from good friends who had visited the same area 5 or 6 times. Their suggestions brought us to places we would have never found on our own. Strolling Through Istanbul serves the same purpose, only with much more detail and skillfully drawn maps to assist in finding locations in the maze that characterizes the entire City. Finding one unique, out of the way cultural/historic site not frequented by tourist hordes is well worth the price of this exceptional guide book.

This is a wonderful, old-fashioned guide book from the days when people traveled to be educated. You have to read it before you leave on vacation because there isn't time to read a chapter when you get there. They're long. Great maps of palaces and ruins. A nice way to figure out what you can get to in one day or two days as sites are along a self-walking tour.

This book is very interesting, but also very, very dense reading. I wish I had it with me when I was visiting Istanbul, but I didn't learn about it until I got home. It's not an easy read, but it's very well written. This book incorporates the historic with the contemporary. I guess I will have to go back to Istanbul? :)

The Freely text, Strolling Through Istanbul, is a tour de force of historical knowledge about Istanbul. Set in the guise of a walking tour of various areas, the book is at once an in depth guide of what can be seen and a critical evaluation of aspects of what is being seen. Point by point, museum to mosque, the value of this book cannot be understated. It will surely be my travelling companion this coming May. This book should be required reading for all travellers Istanbul bound!

EXCELLENT WRITER AND BOOK. THANKS

Great book.

The book is written by true lovers of history and architecture and there are some fascinating descriptions of buildings. But it is incredibly difficult to use with its bizarre index and hopeless maps. A simple map of the city with every walk marked and numbered would help so much. However if you carry it when sightseeing you will know you are a superior class of traveller.

There are guidebooks, then there are guidebooks. If you need a general introduction to the incomparable city of Istanbul, giving you an overview of its many and varied attractions, and perhaps helping you choose a hotel or a restaurant or nightclub too, there are several acceptable guides available - the Rough Guide is a fair bet, notwithstanding its inaccuracies.If, however, you are serious about getting away from the tourist drag and untangling Istanbul's many layers of history, truly getting to know the "real" place and how it has come to be what is today, then this is a book for you. Each of the 23 chapters takes you on foot along a suggested route through the streets and lanes of the Queen of Cities, enabling you to become acquainted with it in a way no other book I'm aware of makes possible. The authors are exceptionally well-informed, and prove themselves able to share their expertise in an intelligent and very readable way, devoting ample space to the countless sites of interest to the visitor without ever becoming tedious. If your particular interest is Byzantine history, or perhaps the Ottoman period, you can easily select which sites to visit - the book makes possible a pick 'n' mix approach to help you. Relevant input from historical and architectural viewpoints enables you to look at familiar locations through new eyes, and even to learn of the existence of sites you never knew existed.The walks are of varied length, but none of them need take a full day. Plans of key buildings are detailed and appropriate to the text, and route maps are user-friendly minimising the chances of getting lost even in more remote residential areas. The 2009/2010 edition is bang up to date.Absorb what this book has to offer before your visit, and it will genuinely enhance your experience - and thereby your memories - of Istanbul, a city like no other on earth. "Strolling Through Istanbul" has made available material previously available only in the old Blue Guide, until recently out of print for some years.