Built between 1597 and 1663. the Yeni (New) Mosque hovers over the harbor at Eminonu greeting the incoming ferryboats and welcoming tourists to the old city. Today its graceful domes and arches shelter hundreds of pigeons who make this area their home. Marvellous lznik tiles decorate the sultan’s balcony.
The 16th century Sokollu Mehmet Pasa Mosque built in an awkwardly shaped plot on a steeply sloping hill near Sultanahmet is one of the most beautiful examples of classical Turkish architecture and a masterpiece of the architect Sinan. Inside, breathtaking blues, greens, purples and reds color the elegant designs of the lznik tiles.
Walls of glass fill the four immense arches that support the central dome at the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque inside the Edirne gate of the old city walls. One hundred and sixty-one windows illuminate this mosque, built by Sinan for Mihrimah Sultan, the daughter of Suleyman the Magnificent, in 1555.