Istanbul for The Thrill Seekers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

Run the flat Bosphorus promenade between the two villages, under the fortress walls and past the fishermen; it is about three kilometres each way.

Sit at the counter at the long grill and order the adana, the sweetbreads and a plate of onion salad; this is how Istanbul refuels after a run.

The Golden Gate's Ottoman fortress at the southern end of Constantinople's walls; climb its towers for a view of the sea of Marmara before you start walking.

Walk the fifth-century land walls north, six kilometres of broken towers and kitchen gardens in the moat, ending at Edirnekapı; take water.

Ottoman palace recipes revived from the sixteenth-century kitchen records, a fine reward for the walk; try the lamb with apricots and the poppy-seed dessert.

Take the early ferry from Kabataş, rent a bike by the pier, and ride the island's twelve-kilometre loop through pine woods and wooden mansions.

The steepest path on the island climbs to the Greek monastery of St George; local pilgrims do the last stretch on foot, and the view over the Marmara repays it.

Tuck into stews, roasted aubergine and pides in a loud, bright room near the ferry; a post-ride dinner of lamb with rice is the right answer.

The scrub on a hot marble slab is the best recovery after three days on your feet; the 1584 hall opens early and is quiet on Mondays.

A curving Art Nouveau stairway built by a banking family, good for one more set of stairs up into Galata before the day gets hot.

The baklava house that most locals pick: order a mixed plate of pistachio and walnut by weight and eat it standing at the counter.