Turkey Tourism - Istanbul - Travel Advice

Turkey Tourism - Istanbul - Travel Advice

Many tourists dream about the beautiful city of Istanbul because it is a city with an important history and that was the capital of Eastern Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire.

Istanbul - Istanbul is the biggest city in Turkey and the third most populous in Europe. The ancient Byzantium and then Constantinople at the time of the Roman Empire, is now one of the most beautiful and populated areas of Europe, one of the 3 cities are located transcontinental between Europe and Asia.

Culture - Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and more westernized. Its location is between two continents, the culture of the Turkish economic capital is very rich. This motivated the decision by the European Parliament that the European Capital of Culture in 2010 as Istanbul, along with Pecs (Hungary) and Essen (Germany). In 2004, the city hosted the Festival of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in the Ukraine won 280 points.

History - The Roman Empire -In the year 191 a. C. the city became an ally of Rome, which was recognized as a free city, but later became a direct possession of the Republic (100 BC).

In 194, Byzantium became embroiled in a dispute between the Roman emperor Septimius Severus and Niger Pescennius, siding with the latter. Because of this Severus besieged the city, where Niger's supporters resisted. The fighting lasted three years, which irritated Severus, when finally gave up, looted and destroyed its walls. Then he proposed to rebuild it and build another city twice as large.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul - The strategic location of Byzantium attracted to the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who in 330 founded the city again as Nova Roma Constantinople in his honor and became the capital Roman Empire after its division in 395, the Eastern Roman Empire, which has passed into modern historiography with the name of the Byzantine Empire. Nova Roma's name was never used and was often Constantinople which prevailed until the fall of the Empire in 1453 and was used until the twentieth century in Europe, instead of Istanbul (still used in Greece).

The first period of splendor of the Empire the church of St. Sophia, the masterpiece of Byzantine art who built the Emperor Justinian I. After a brief crisis in the seventh and eighth centuries, again another round of rebirth in the IX and X, with the Eastern Schism, after which come the decline of the Empire to the Crusades, the division into several states such as the Latin Empire, and the continuing Turkish threat. But the city maintained its importance as a cultural and commercial center of the Mediterranean, with consulates and colonies of merchants from various countries.

The Ottoman Empire - The Fall of Constantinople under Turkish rule on May 29, 1453 was an event that shocked the European society of the time and is considered the end of the Middle Ages. The city fell after a long siege and years of conflict with the Turks who had conquered the rest of the Byzantine Empire, due to the tenacity of Sultan Mehmed II, then called Fatih ('the conqueror' in Turkish) and was part the Ottoman Empire until its official dissolution on November 1, 1922. The Ottomans called the city Istanbul.

The Blue Mosque - During the Ottoman period the city has gone through a complete cultural change, and went from being an imperial Byzantine city to another Ottoman Orthodox Christian and Islamic. Hagia Sophia, the Church of Divine Wisdom, was converted into a mosque as were some other churches in the city (especially the churches in the neighbourhoods they put more effort into defending the city against Mehmed II). Many churches were retained and new mosques were built around the city, each Sultan has built a magnificent mosque to commemorate his reign. Among these mosques, the most remarkable are the Bayezid Mosque, the Süleymaniye Mosque (the largest in Istanbul), Sultan Ahmed Mosque (the first Friday sermon or "khutba" in this Mosque was read by the Sufi Jelveti Sheikh Aziz Mahmud Hudayi) and Fatih Mosque.

Tekken Many of these still survive in today, some other form of mosques, museums, Fatih Tekke as Jerrahi, mosques and Ramazan Efendi Efendi Sunbul the mevlevihane Galata Beyoglu, Yahya Effendi in Besiktas and Bektasi Tekke Tekke in Kadiköy now used by Muslims as a Cemevi Alevis. A picturesque element of the landscape of certain parts of the city of Istanbul, which still survives today are the mobs, features tombs of the Ottoman period.

A 13.7 mile rail tunnel is being built with an estimated completion in 2012. Approximately 1400 meters of the tunnel be constructed under the close, using the technique of immersion of the canal, and is expected to be the deepest tunnel executed by this method (with a maximum of 56 m below water level). The project includes the construction of a 13.3 km metro with four stations, linking downtown to the eastern city Istanbul and the western city.

Istanbul has been and is a cultural and ethnic melting pot. Consequently, there are many mosques, churches, synagogues and historic buildings worth visiting in the city. For these reasons the Unesco in 1985, says the historic areas of Istanbul as a World Heritage Site.

Continue reading here to know the Places to visit in Istanbul 

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