My hotel was the Side Hotel, which had a great location. My single room with a private bathroom was $50 US per day. It was across the street from a first class hotel, the Four Seasons. A walk to the Hagia Sophia took about 3 minutes and the Blue Mosque was about a 4 minute walk away.
In my first few days, I was in no hurry to visit any of the local attractions. I had some major jet-lag issues which took awhile to resolve and I also had to decompress from work. I noted that when a cruise ship was docked (sometimes two cruise ships) there were hundreds if not thousands of tourists standing in line for the major historical sites.
My first photo from my trip - the east side of the Hagia Sophia, a 3 minute walk from my hotel
The major site I wanted to see was the ancient, Hagia Sophia, once a Christan basilica, then converted to a mosque, and finally made into the museum which it is today. It was truly amazing that this building was constructed in the 6th century. For 1,000 years the building had the world's largest free standing dome, until the dome in Florence was constructed. Since my hotel was only 3 minutes away, I could pick any time I wanted to visit. I selected a mid-afternoon visit when the line was very short. I got some good photos inside until the afternoon light started fading.
My visit inside the Hagia Sophia
My visit inside the Hagia Sophia
One of the ancient mosiacs in the Hagia Sophia
The Blue Mosque, or the Sultanahmet mosque was also very close to my hotel and did not require an entry fee, so I visited the inside about three times and the outside courtyard several more times. The mosque kept reminding me that it was very close indeed, when it issued the "call to prayer" each morning at 5 am.
Looking toward the Blue Mosque at night from the Sultanahmet Park
Hundreds of tourists wait in line to enter the Blue Mosque (not my day to visit)
I made numerous walking trips to the Galanta Bridge area, which crossed the "Golden Horn" waterway to reach the newer sections of Istanbul. It was about a 20 minute walk. This area also had connections to the ferries across the Bosporus and the railroad station was in the vicinity.
The Topkapti Palace was also about a 5 minute walk from my hotel, so I visited the palace grounds frequently. This palace served as the capital of the Ottoman Empire for about 400 year. One day when the crowd level was low, I paid the entry fee and toured the entire palace including the sultan's private harem. The Royal Treasury containted the riches of the empire including an 86 caret diamond (no photos allowed). Another section of the palace contained a large collection of religious relics from Islam and other religions (no photos allowed).
One of the royal rooms of the Topkapi Palace
Another great attraction in the area was the Istanbul Archeological Museum, located adjacent to the Topkapti Palace. I spent the better part of a full day here, and I found it was sensory overload - there was just too much here to absorb. In hindsight, I should have come back for a second visit, or maybe even a third visit so I could get more out of this world-class museum.
Marble bust of Alexander the Great carved during his lifetime
Running through the neighborhood was the ancient Roman street, Divan Yolu, which used to be the major road from ancient Rome to Constantinople. There are still Roman ruins laying right along side the road on this street. It is also served by a super-modern electric tramway for transporting people through the Sultanahmet neighborhood. The tramway fares were a modest 3 Turkish Lira or about $1.75 US. Tokens for the tram were dispensed via a very understandable kiosk system. It was very easy to get around the metro area.
Trams along Divan Yolu arrived every 15 minutes or so
Recommended Further Reading
Hagia Sophia
Blue Mosque
Map of Old Istanbul and destinations along Divan Yolu street
Istanbul Archaeology Museum
Roman Underground Cistern
Topkapi Palace
Updated July, 2013