This guide tells you how to have a truly magnificent handful of days in Istanbul, which honestly sounds like a killer vacation. Though a vacation in Istanbul is pretty much guaranteed to be amazing, this could be the most efficient guide I've seen, especially if your time there really is limited.

A friend once told me that Istanbul is such a vast, vibrant and multilayered city that it would take years to truly know it, and he was right. Once at the heart of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, it's one of the world's most historically rich destinations. With Asia and Europe straddling either side of its glittering Bosphorus Strait, it's also replete with paradoxes: East and West, old and new. It's virtually impossible to truly experience Istanbul in just 72 hours, but you can get a taste of the city's magic -- if you're well prepared.

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