Istanbul is the rare city that sits on two continents, split by the Bosphorus, and the easiest way to feel it is to do what locals do: take the ferry. Commuters cross between the European and Asian shores twice a day, tea in hand, gulls wheeling overhead, a skyline of domes and minarets sliding past.
It is one of the great cheap pleasures in travel — a boat ride across a continental divide for the cost of a transit fare. Go at dusk, when the call to prayer rolls across the water from a dozen mosques at once.
Before you step inside a mosque
The great mosques are open to visitors outside prayer times and free to enter, but they expect respect: shoulders and knees covered for everyone, a scarf over the hair for women. Carry a light wrap in your bag and you will never be turned away at the door.
