There are few hotels in the world that can boast of having three world-class cultural attractions on their doorstep. Most of those spots that can are in Sultanhamet, and the Ayasofya Konaklari (Ayasofya Mansions) may trump them all. On an old cobbled lane next door to the Topkapi Palace, just behind the Hagia Sophia and a small, weak child’s stone-throw from the Blue Mosque, its location is hard to better. Built in the 1980s by the Turkish Touring and Automobile Association, the Ayasofya Konaklari was the first Ottoman boutique hotel. Unusually, it is a row of pretty, pastel-coloured houses, with a total of 57 rooms and seven suites – some looking onto the Hagia Sophia itself – built to mimic exactly the old Ottoman houses that once stood in their place. A separate building in pretty surroundings at the end of the street houses a restaurant and bar. Rooms are decorated with Ottoman-style beds, tables and objets d’art, which range from the stuffy to the chic.