Back in 2022 I took some days off to remove Turkey from my checklist, just before heading to a wedding in Lebanon. I started my journey with a brief stop in Istanbul, the most populous city in Europe—historically known as Constantinople. Due to its strategic location, where the European and Asian continents converge, the city has served as a capital for the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires for almost 2 millennia, as global trade and the Silk Routes transformed it into one of the most pivotal cities in history. Istanbul has been a cosmopolitan—multiethnic, multilingual and multireligious—city throughout much of its history, but it has become more homogenized since the end of the Ottoman era. Nevertheless, its history has been impeccably preserved through its ancient buildings, mazed bazaars, exotic handicrafts and delicious cuisine. If you ever visit Istanbul, you can't miss Hagia Sophia, one of the greatest surviving examples of Byzantine architecture; the Rumelihisari Fortress, a medieval Ottoman fortress along the Bosphorus Strait; the Theodosius Cistern, one of many ancient underground water reservoirs used during the Roman occupation; and the Grand Bazaar, one of the world's largest and oldest roofed markets with a rich social history and evolving ethics of trade.