More properly called Sultanahmet Mosque, the Blue Mosque is named for the blue ceramic tiles covering much of the interior.

This giant bazaar in the heart of the Old Town has 4,000 shops under one roof and a maze of 65 alleys connecting them all into a vast and disorienting conglomeration.

A rambling walk through busy shopping streets to the most of Suleyman the Magnificent, and then to the Spice Market.

Now it is time to reward yourself with the most pleasant out-of-town diversion -- a ferry ride on the Bosphorus, the strategic waterway that divides Asia and Europe.

People watching in Istanbul.