Turkey is a country that stretches from Eastern Europe to Western Asia, with cultural connections to the ancient Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Cosmopolitan Istanbul, on the Bosphorus Strait, is home to the iconic Hagia Sophia with its soaring dome and Christian mosaics, the massive 17th-century Blue Mosque, and the Topkapı Palace, dating from around 1460 and home to sultans. Ankara is the modern capital of Turkey.