Few Days in Istanbul

Istanbul is a city rich in history...a merge between Orient and Occident, present and past. Plenty of museums, churches, moschee...two continents divided by the river of Bogazigi (Bosforo), this only is fascinating to the visitors; where the Black Sea water merges with the Marmara Sea.

Quick Tips:

Wherever you look, you've something to see..

Best Way To Get Around:

Taxi.

We met a friend in Istanbul who was managing one of the best hotels in Istanbul, the Four Seasons, and he suggested we go to this restaurant to have Turkish cuisine. It's a sort of sophisticated restaurant, with wood tables in a terrace with a worm atmosphere. It's visited by locals, but business men, and I mean elegant ones. The food is excellent.

When the construction for Topkapi Palace started is still unknown. According to some resources, the foundation dates back to 1460.

Topkapi Palace was not constructed based on a definite plan. It was expanded in time and underwent several changes. This change was due to necessity of adding of new buildings or the reconstruction in place of the original buildings destroyed by fire or other causes.

Apart from the mansions for residence of sultans and harem section, Topkapi Palace also features many structures such as wards for palace guards, a very spacious kitchen for use of palace residents, dormitories for palace servants, Kubbealti where Divan meetings were held, Hýrka-i Saadet section where belongings of Hz. Mohammed and the Caliphs are kept, Gülhane Hospital, Sultan Ahmed the 3rd Library, Palace School, Treasury Office, a stable for the horses of sultan, and St. Ýrini Church, which was used as a weapon storage for some time.

Topkapý Palace was abandoned in the middle of the nineteenth century and lost its significance as the state center. Indeed, part of a railroad was built on the outdoor garden of Topkapi Palace, which was is a desolate state in the following years. Most recently in 1924, Topkapi Palace was turned into a museum and opened for exhibition.

St. Sophia Museum (Hagia Sophia), which is among the most significant monuments of world’s architectural history, is considered as the only application in terms of its architectural property, imagnificence, greatness, and functionality. St. Sophia has been an inspiration for Ottoman mosques thought in idea, and is reviewed as a product of east-west synthesis.

There would be really a lot to see and to say about Istanbul, two days are not enough. This is why I wish to go back there very soon, and visit places I've all ready seen because they're really wonderful. I also want to discover new things.