Places leighadlr Wants to Go

One of the newest mosques in a city filled with thousands.

It's believed that this small church was connected to the Hagia Sophia via a secret tunnel.

Taking the subway here means doing so over a bridge located in the middle of an estuary.

A surprising and unconventional mosque hidden in the subsoil of Istanbul.

This historic hotel preserves many treasures from its heyday hosting passengers on the Orient Express.

Quite possibly the oldest love poem known to humankind.

Climb a set of vertiginous stone steps to the top of this impressive ancient edifice.

This shuttered power plant is now Turkey's first industrial archaeology museum.

This former Imperial summer home was the venue for a royal slap that once echoed 'round the world.

The legendary luxury train passage is commemorated with a charming museum inside its former eastern terminus.

This half-forgotten fortress was constructed by the Ottoman conqueror of Constantinople.

This column celebrates Rome's victory over the Goths, and may be the oldest Roman monument in Istanbul.

No one is sure if the world's fourth-largest diamond had been found in a rubbish heap or was pawned by Napoleon's mom.

A fountain standing as a testament to a doomed alliance.

A gorgeous, Gaudí-esque stairway constructed in the city of Istanbul by a prominent Jewish family.

Climb a steep hill in 90 seconds on the second-oldest urban subway in the world.

A sixth-century Byzantine cistern hidden below a modern carpet store.

Large miniature theme park with 100-plus models.

An Art Nouveau gem hides beneath the layers of city grime obscuring this once-magnificent building.

The most metal church of all time was built in record time because of an international, pious pissing contest.

Step back in time and witness the fall of Constantinople.

One of the largest wooden constructions in Europe was meant to be a casino, but soon became an orphanage.

Over the centuries, this island paradise has done it all, from providing monks with ecclesiastical respite to sheltering an exiled Leon Trotsky.

This eatery re-creates dishes from the Ottoman Empire so you can dine like a sultan.