Rüstem Pasha Mosque

Commissioned by Süleyman the Magnificent and built by Mimar Sinan in 1550, at the east edge of Süleymaniye mosque complex. It had private cubicles for distinguished visitors such as the sultan, but was mostly a standard working-class bathhouse. It was restored in 2001 and is nowadays touristy. It's the only mixed hamam in Istanbul, but mixed sessions are only for couples and families.

On top of a hill overlooking the Golden Horn, this is a magnificent mosque built by Sinan in the 1550s. It was centrepiece of a large külliye, a religious complex which included madrasas, a public kitchen and a hospital.. The small cemetery east has the mausoleums of Suleiman the Magnificent and of his wife Hurrem Sultan or Roxelana.

Housed in the Europe-side railway terminus of 1890, this exhibits Ottoman and modern Turkish railway history. The Orient Express came and went from here, with passengers for further east transferring to ferries then the Asia-side terminus of Haydarpaşa, for trains to Crimea, Baghdad and Damascus.

Imposing mosque built 1500/05. The other parts of the religious complex have found secular use.

Built in 1741, the last major hamam opened in the Ottoman era. It has ornate architecture, great service and a stellar cast of famous visitors. Prices to match, and only tourists now use it.

Museum in a restored building that was the stables for Topkapı Palace. It exhibits various instruments for astronomy, clocks, pumps, weaponry, a steam-powered döner spit, and so on developed in Islamic realms down the centuries, but these are modern repro, and explanations of their context are skimpy. Islamic science and technology preceded that of Europe, as they insist, but they get the tone wrong, as if that was the triumphal culmination rather than the springboard for further advance.