When we featured this destination in the past it was always a bit complicated with timings and travel via Manchester or London but earlier this month Turkish Airlines (www. turkishairlines. com or 0044 207 7669300 for bookings) began flying from Dublin to Istanbul direct on Fridays and Tuesdays, making the Turkish city an accessible option as a long weekend break.

So what's to see then?

Loads but a long weekend will enable you to see most of the major sights. Not to be missed is the Blue Mosque, famous for its distinctive six minarets and for the haze of blue that greets you when you enter . . .

a reflection of the 20,000 tiles that decorate the interior.

Then there's Hagia Sophia, a museum with the distinction of having been both a Christian and a Muslim place of worship, and Topkapi Palace, the sultans' home for 300 years.

You should visit the Grand Bazaar, a covered market awash with hundreds of little shops, the Spice Bazaar and Suleymaniye mosque, an oasis of calm with great views of the Golden Horn. And don't leave without taking a trip on the Bosphorus, a pleasant and inexpensive way to see the city from one of the great waterways of the world.

And accommodation?

Try the faded grandeur of the Pera Palas (0090 212 245 5725, www. perapalas. com), . . . former haunt of writer Agatha Christie . . . or the chic style of the Bentley (0090 212 2917730, www. bentley-hotel. com), a member of the Design Hotels group.