Istanbul Holiday Guide

Istanbul - Constantinople - Byzantium. City on the Bosphorus, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, City on two continents. Officially 9 million, unofficially 14 million inhabitants. Boundary between Asia and Europe, between Orient and Occident. Mosques and bazaars, western lifestyle and Anatolian tradition. The reason for our 4-day stay in Istanbul, however, was the operation of Vivien (see link below). Since it looks again without glasses and contact lenses, like an eagle!
Already on the journey from the airport into the city, we were enchanted by the silhouette, with its myriad dome and minarets fascinated. Again and again we went on parts of the 21-km-long massive walls along.
The Bosporus, the strait between Asian and European continent by a 1 km long, free-floating bridge spans and offers next to the hellish traffic, beautiful views of the two banks of the Bosphorus. A boat trip or a long walk along the shore you should not miss.

Sultanahmet Camii, owes its Beinahmen the “Blue Mosque” of the decoration with blautonigen tiles and 6 with its minarets, instead of the usual 4, the most impressive buildings next to the Hagia Sophia. During the prayer hours, hundreds of Muslims come here to pray, an impressive experience.

In addition to the traditional parts of the city, offers Istanbul, around the Taksim Square, even a completely modern, western city centre pedestrian zone along with the usual international shops and restaurants. Only the historic tram recalls the old days. Away from these miles are still Local and traditional tea gardens with a wide range of local cuisine.

Another dominant structure is the Galata tower at the northern end of the same bridge. From up here you have a wonderful overview of the entire city. At night you can see a show and dinner Folklore-/Bauchtanz- visit, but at astronomical prices € 60, –/Pers. We renounced it.

With most “experienced” man Istanbul at a stroll through the great bazaar. His gigantic proportions of nearly 31 ha and nearly 4000 stores in a labyrinthartigen covered Gewölbebau make the visit a unique experience. Spices, gold, carpets, ceramics, copper, brass, leather goods, etc. everything is in abundance exists and will loudly by the merchants. It is traded and haggled, just typical oriental and for us always fascinating.
Topkapi Sarayi, the centuries-old Ottoman Sultan’s palace is situated in a beautiful park and one of the main attractions of Istanbul. The view from here on top of the Bosporus, the Golden Horn and the city are unique. We enthusiastic but especially the architecture and the equipment of different premises. A fairy tale palace as from Thousand and One Nights. Before louder photographing and amazed, we missed time in the harem to go, because already at 16.00 clock close to its gates. Schade, the tickets we had purchased thus free.

Despite the partly already widely west dominated lifestyle, there is still the old traditions. Verschleierte women and provides traditional craftsmen still everywhere in the roads. The company is pure men almost everywhere.

Our trip to Istanbul was not only in relation to the operation successful. The whole city with their different ways of life, the grandiose buildings and the lively street life has us very much. Istanbul is in any case worth a visit.

Ankara may have replaced Istanbul as the capital of Turkey , but the old imperial capital will never be replaced in the affections of the populace. A pride in the city plays a part in the consciousness of locals of every age ,race and creed. Its feeling summed up best by novelist Yasar Kemal , whose book, The Sea-Crossed Fisherman , contains a loving evocation of the pulsating city :

Its buses , cars , horsecarts, its ships , steam launches , fishing boats , its hamals sweating under their loads of heaped crates , its streets and avenues overflowing, its apartment buildings, mosques, bridges, all surging, interlocking in a furious turmoil…

But while the traditional sights and ancient buildings may always be there, the romantic veneer of the Ottoman city may not, Istanbul has one of the youngest populations in Europe and , as  Turkey begins to reform its once rigid conservative society as it seeks to gain entry into the European, the city’s youth increasingly demands the same recreational pastimes as their European counterparts. Where they once met over a cup of apple tea and a backgammon board , today’s rich and bright young things enjoy the bars and nightclubs that have flourished since the late 1990s , where they can drink alcohol freely and dance until 5am. Shopping malls featuring international brands cater to young people sporting belly rings and tattoos, Hard Rock Café T-shirts and DVDs are for sale amongst the trinkets in the covered bazaar and there are reputedly more branches of McDonalds in the city than in NewYork.

Whether yours in the Istanbul of the Blue Mosque and The Topkapi Palace, or the downtown dance clubs and swish Bosphorus coctail bars, the city takes time to get to know. Three to four days is enough to see the major historical sights in Sultanahmet and take a ferry trip out for the afternoon on the Bosphorus. But plan on staying a week , or even two , if you want to explore fully the attractions off the usual tourist trail in the outlying suburbs and islands.

ORIENTATION

Istanbul is divided in two by the Bosphorus, a narrow thirty-kilometer strait that runs roughly southwest between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, separating Europe from Asia. Feeding into the southern end of the strait from the European side is the Golden Horn, an inlet of water that starts as two small streams about 7km from the mouth  the Bosphorus. The quarters along the Golden Horn are dominated by light industry, while the majority of İstanbul’s residential suburbs are located along the shores of the Seo of Marmara and on the hills above the Bosphorus.

Istanbul effectively has two city centres, separated by the Golden Horn but both situated on the European side of the Bosphorus. The Sultanahmet district is the historical core of the city while Taksim lies at the southern end of an extensive business district. The two can easily be made out from the water.

Topkapi , Aya sofya , Sultanahmet Camii , the Museum of Turkish and Islamic art, and The Kapali Carsi (Covered Bazaar) , Downhill from Sultanahmet is Eminonu , one of the city’s major transport hubs, where trams connect with the citys largest ferry terminal and the main train station. This district is handy for the Misir Carsisi (Mısır Çarşısı) and Galata bridge , gateway to the Golden Horn.

West of the covered bazaar is the student district of Beyazit – stretching to the crown of one of the city’s seven hills – where İstanbuls university and the impressive Suleymanie Camii are situated . Further west from Beyazit , down main road of ordu caddesi , is the commercial district of Laleli and the transport hub of Aksaray. Beyond lie the overtly Islamic, mosque-studded , districts of Fatih and Zeyrek.

Running between the Sea of Marmara ant the Golden Horn, about 6 km from Topkapı Palace, the greater part of Theodosius II’s city walls are still standing. Its simple enough to get out here bay bus or train for a walk on the fortifications at Yedikule and a visit to the spectacular frescoes and mosaics of the Kariye Museum, Further out, Eyup is home to one of the most important mosques in the islamic world.

From Sultanahmet and Eminönü , you are most likely to cross the Golden Horn by the Galata bridge , entering the port area of Karaköy and then continuing up the steep hill to Galata , an area as old as Constantinople itself. Not far from the northern end of the bridge is the entrance to the Tunel, the French-built underground funicular railway , which takes eighty seconds to whisk up to Beyoglu , the City’s graceful nineteenth-century European quarter. From the upper Tünel statilon , an antique tram runs the length of Beyoğlu’s main boulevard Istiklal Caddesi to Taksim Square, the twin focal points of the modern citys best hotels, bars ,clubs and restaurants.

Arriving in Istanbul can come as a shock. You may still be in Europe - with tree-lined boulevards and chic cafe bars in many areas - but step away from the main drag and most likely you will find you have entered a completely ailen environment. Traders with handcarts , hamals (stevedores) carrying burdens of merchandise twice their own size and weight , limbless beggars and shoeshine boys all freuquent the backstreets around the city centre , loudly proclaiming their busines until late at night. Men monopolize the downmarket public bars and teahouses while women scurry about their business , heads often covered and gaze ever downcast. In summer , dust tracks take the place of pavements, giving way in winter to a ubiquitous slurry of mud. Where there are pavements ,they are punctuated at intervals with unmarked pits large enough to swallow you without trace. And this is before you even begin to crosss any bridges into Asia.

Yet istanbul is the only city in the world to have played capital to consecutive Christian and Islamic empires. Their legacies are much in evidence , newhere more prominently than in the cultural centre of the city , where the gerat edifices of Ayasofya and Sultan Ahmet Camii glower at each other across a small park. The juxtaposition of the two cultures would be fascinating enough in itself but it is made more so by the fact that the transition between them was a process of assimilation and adoption. Mehmet the Conqueror , and most of the citys churches were reconsecrated as mosques - not least Aya Sofya itself , which was a constant source of inspiration to Islamic architects.

Monumental architecture aside, the very confusion of sights and sounds initially so alienating soon becomes one of Istanbuls greatest fascinations. Even if the city did not have such a varied and vivid history , it would still take any number of return visits to begin to discover the source and meaning of the cacophony. Exploration reveasl ancient bazaars which still function as they have done for centuries , including the largest covered bazaar in the world, the Kapali Carsi. The modern city, located around vast emptiness affords to some a feeling of relief after days spent in crowded , dirty backstreets , and at night Taksim and the adjacent Istiklal Caddesi take on a new lease of life as a centre of friendly bars and clubs while the area between Taksim and Galata offers some of the citys best restaurants. The Bosphorus - the straits dividing Europe and Asia - should be visited as often as possible during the course of a trip , since howmuch you enjoy Istanbul may well depend on how often you can escape to its shores. The coastal villages offer incredible views as well as some of the citys more interesting historical sites , parks and esen open forestland , and the best fish restaurants in this part of the world. The Princes Islands , traditional refuge from political turmoil on the mainland , are worth visiting for their unspoilt natural beauty and for the possibility of finding a secluded beach an hours ferry ride away from Eminonu.