Arrive at Ataturk airport and meet with local guide. Transfer to the Pera in the Taxim area and aperitif at the Pera Palace (Alexander Vallaury) former hotel for Orient Express passengers. Agatha Christie’s original room is still intact and can be visited. Walk up to the Barcelò Saray Hotel.

The tour concentrates mainly on urban planning and architecture from the Roman and Byzantine periods like that of the Porta Aurea area, main entrance to the city in the late  IV century, the XII century church transformed into the Kalenderhane Mosque next to the recently restored roman aquaducts, Kariye Church (currently a museum), and the Blacherne building. Visit to the VI century church of Santa Sophia, currently a museum, the  Byzantine cisterns, the Hippodrome, and the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (currently the Kucuk Ayasofya Mosque). Free time for shopping at the Grand Bazaar and return to hotel for dinner

Breakfast at the hotel.
Guided walk of Pera and Galata. Particular attention will be paid to the work of European architects in the late XIX century like Botter House (D’Aronco), the Russian Embassy (Fossati brothers) and various others. Visit to the XIII century Galata Tower with spectacular view over the Bosphorus and Istanbul.

Breakfast at the hotel. The day’s visits will concentrate mainly on Ottoman architecture and planning, with particular attention being paid to the Sinan buildings (late XVI century): Topkapi Palace, the Solimano Mosque and complex, Sokullu Mehmed Pasha Mosque and Rustem Pasha Mosque. Free lunch. The afternoon visit will be around the Bosphorus waterfront with the construction of new buildings and the restoration of those already existing along the river: the Emirgan Sabanci Museum for Modern Turkish Art and Ottoman Calligraphy. Walk around the Arnavutkoy area with its’ characteristic XIX century homes made entirely of wood. Visit to the Sadberk Hanim Museum; a private home with a vast collection of Ottoman art and furniture. Mini cruise up the Bosphorous towards the centre of town. Return to the hotel, dinner.

Breakfast buffet at hotel and departure with guide for the Gon leather factory (Nevzat Sayin), walking tour around Eminonu with numerous examples of municipal buildings dating back to the late XIX and early XX  centuries: The Central Post Office (Vedat Tek), the Orient Express Station (Jachmund e Kemalettin). Proceed on the Rahmi Koc Musuem, beautifully restored in the Golden Horn area.

Breakfast buffet at hotel and visit the city's business district, with its 52-story building Sapphire, the highest in Turkey, where you can admire one of the most beautiful and spectacular views of the city and Büyükdere Avenue, the Kanyon Shopping Mall, a multifunctional complex of 250,000 m2, waving around a charming "canyon" with shops and a tower of 30 floors of offices and residential apartments.