Naval Museum

Istanbul's Naval Museum, the Deniz Müzesi, unpacks an old rule of the Bosphorus: when the sultan's ceremonial barge appeared, everything on the water stopped. The guide walks through the museum's collection of imperial caiques, from a lavishly carved seventeenth-century galley rowed by over a hundred oarsmen to barges that ferried sultans to Friday prayers and to Eyüp, where each new ruler received the sword of empire. Start at the hall's grand centerpieces before working your way to the far end.