As I had heard from others who have gone to Istanbul, it is a much more scenic city than Athens. The area near our hotel resembles European cities like Prague. Our hotel, the Ciragan Palace Kempinski was right on the Bosphorus. It was originally built in 1923 for a Sultan who only lived there a couple months before deciding he didn't like it. There is an expansion bridge which looks just like the Golden Gate bridge, which runs over the top of the Bosphorus.