“The Gate between EAST and WEST.”
Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul – all three names are for a city with a great past and interesting present. No other city on earth had changed its name as frequently as the metropolis between east and west, affectionately called by the citizens “STAMBUL”. The only city to have served as the capital of three empires, the only one astride two continents, the meeting place of the East and the West, Asia and Europe, Christianity and Islam, one of the earliest cities with a population of more than a million, now the cultural, social and economic centre of the modern Turkey. Continuously inhabited for 27 centuries, Istanbul is one of the oldest major cities — along with Athens, Jerusalem, Beijing, Rome, Damascus and Aleppo. Just a few cities have played as significant a role in history as has Byzantium-Constantinople-Istanbul.
The incomparable site of the city at Bosphorus, framed by the Black Sea and Marmara Sea, gives it a fascinating panorama. Istanbul has a unique silhouette. The traveller stays here at the gate of Asiatic continent and feels himself in the middle of Orient.
Istanbul, the biggest city of Turkey has today approx. 13 million citizens, due to the endless stream of Anatolian migrants. The essential part of the city is on the Southeast point of Europe and is divided from its Asiatic suburbs by Bosphorus. The European part of the city is divided by an inlet of the sea, the Golden Horn.
Among the monuments like mosques and Sultan’s palaces of Byzantine and Ottoman culture there are many bazaars, Turkish baths (hamam), theatres, restaurants, clubs and discotheques.
ISTANBUL CANNOT ONLY BE VISITED!!!
ISTANBUL MUST BE EXPERIENCED!!!