Belgrade Forest

This guide to Belgrade Forest in Istanbul opens with Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent's 1521 conquest of Belgrade, and his decision to resettle Serbian water engineers beside this forest on the edge of the city. It follows the network of aqueducts and stone dams that architect Sinan built to carry the forest's water into Istanbul, and the descendants who kept the system running for centuries. Listen for how a corner of modern Istanbul still carries a trace of that same water system.