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ISTANBUL'S HISTORICAL PLACES
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TOPKAPI PALACE Topkapi Palace was home to all the Ottoman sultans until the reign of Abdulmecid I (1839-1860), a period of nearly four centuries.The order for the construction of the Topkapi Palace on the Seraglio Point,overlooking both Marmara and Bosphorus was given by Mehmed II after the conquest of Constantinapolis in 1453. The place was then an ancient olive grove. The final form of the first palace covered an area 700m², and was enclosed with fortified walls 1400 meters in length.The main sections of the museum are:Harem,Place attire and garments,Imperial treasury,Books - Maps and Calligraphic documents,Miniatures from the Topkapi Museum,Portraits of the sultans,Clocks,The chambers of the Sacred Relics,Porcelains in the Topkapi,Guns and Armory,Various sections of Topkapi;
BLUE MOSQUE The Blue Mosque is one of the most prominent landmarks of Istanbul.The Blue Mosque was founded by Sultan Ahmet I. He ordered to begin constuction in 1609 and the whole complex was completed in 1616. The mosque was deliberately sited to face Hagia Sophia. However, the architect was unable to construct a bigger dome than Hagia Sophia's, so he instead made the mosque splendid by the perfect proportion of domes, semidomes, and minarets.The mosque became known in the west as the Blue Mosque because of the predominantly blue coloring of paintwork of the interior.
DOLMABAHCE PALACE The word "Dolmabahce" in English means "The filled garden". Because the Dolmabahce Palace is founded upon a reclaimed area by filling up the sea. It's a beautiful 19th C palace right by the Bosphorus, on the waterfront. It's in baroque and rococo style and very French. Many people think that it is a small model of the palace of Versailles in Paris, France. It can be visited with a tour guide of the palace as a group.The palace was constructed between 1842-1853 by one of the Ottoman Sultans, Sultan Abdulmecid. The architect was a famous Armenian architect, Nikogos Balyan.Turkey was doing very badly at the time, the sultan should have pumped money into the economy, but decided to advertise the greatness of his crumbling empire with a palace, forcing his suffering population to pick up the bill. The palace reflects the European and more "modern" side of the Ottoman Empire. The Sultans moved to Dolmabahce Palace after its construction was finished and never went back to Topkapi Palace which hosted them nearly 4 centuries.

HAGIA SOPHIA It was constructed in five years, from 532 to 537, and designed by Isidore of Miletus. Hagia Sophia, (the Church of) Holy Wisdom, now known as the Ayasofya Museum, was an early Christian Church and later an Eastern_Orthodox_church which was transformed into a mosque in 1453 by the Turks,and converted into a museum in 1935.It is regularly considered one of the greatest, and most beautiful buildings in history. Its conquest by the Ottomans at the fall of Constantinople is considered one of the great tragedies of Christianity by the Greek Orthodox faithful.
BASILICA CISTERN The Basilica Cistern, also called the Yerebatan Sarayı or Yerebatan Sarnıcı, is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that still lie beneath the city of Istanbul ,former Constantinople.This cathedral-sized cistern is an underground chamber of 143 by 65 metres, capable of holding 80,000 cubic metres of water. The large space is broken up by a forest of 336 marble columns each 9 metres high. The bases of two of these columns reuse earlier blocks carved with the head of a Medusa .The cistern, located in the historical peninsula of Istanbul was built by the Greeks during the reign of emperor Justinianus in the 6th century the age of glory of Eastern Rome, also called the Byzantine Empire. The cistern is surrounded by a firebrick wall with a thickness of 4 meters and coated with a special mortar for insulation against water. The cistern's water was provided from the Belgrade Woods-which lie 19km north of the city-via aqueducts built by the emperor Justinianus.

THE HIPPODROME The first Hippodrome was built when the city was called Byzantium ,and was a provincial town of moderate importance. In 203 the Emperor Septimius Severus rebuilt the city and expanded its walls endowing it with a hippodrome, an arena for chariot races and other entertainment.In 324 Constantine greatly enlarged the city, and one of his major undertakings was the renovation of the Hippodrome.The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a horse-racing track that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople capital of the Byzantine Empire and the largest city in Europe.It is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 metres long and 130 metres wide. Its stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators.The Ottoman Turks, who captured the city in 1453 and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire were not interested in racing and the Hippodrome was gradually forgotten, although the site was never actually built over.Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydani in the Turkish city of Istanbul with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving. To raise the image of his new capital, Constantine and his successors brought works of art from all over the empire to adorn it. Among these was the Tripod of Plataea.Constantine ordered the Tripod to be moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi ,and set in middle of the Hippodrome.All that remains today is the base, known as the "Serpentine Column." Another Emperor to adorn the Hippodrome was Theodosius,who in 390 brought an obelisk from Egypt and erected it inside the racing track.Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. Only the top section survives, and it stands today where Theodosius placed it, on a marble pedestal. The obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition. In the 10th century the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus built another obelisk at the other end of the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but these were stolen during the Fourth Crusade. The stone core of this monument also survives, known as the Walled Obelisk.

GRAND BAZAAR One of the largest covered markets in the world with more than 58 streets and 4000 shops, and has 250,000-400,000 visitors daily. It is well known for its jewelry, pottery, spice, and carpet shops. Many of the stalls in the bazaar are grouped by type of good, with areas for leather coats, gold jewelry and the like.The bazaar contains two bedestans,or domed masonry structures built for storage and safe keeping, the first of which was constructed in 1464 by the order of Mehmed II ,In 1894 it underwent major restoration after an earthquake.

SPICE BAZAAR The Spice Bazaar in (also known as the Egyptian Bazaar) is one of the oldest bazaars in the city. Located in Eminonu,it is the second largest covered shopping complex after Grand Bazaar.It is so named because various spice types from the Orient were offered here in the past. The Spice bazaar was completed in 1660.

SULEYMANIE MOSQUE The Süleymaniye Mosque is a grand mosque in Istanbul.It was built on the order of sultan Suleiman I (Suleiman the Magnificent) and was constructed by the great Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan. The construction work began in 1550 and the mosque was finished in 1557.It is considered to be a kind of architectural answer to the Byzantine Hagia Sophia ,commissioned by the Emperor Justinian.

MINIATURK It is possible to find a miniature version of the historic sites of İstanbul, Anatolia and former Ottoman provinces in one spot in Istanbul, namely Miniatürk. Coupled with the distinction of being most rapidly completed miniature park in the world, it boasts of a record number of visitors since it opened. Located along the nostalgic Golden Horn, Minitürk is expected to contribute to the rehabilitation of the historic neighborhood in which it sprawls across an area of 60 thousand square meters, larger than any other miniature city in the world. The exhibition area itself is 15 thousand square meters.

MAIDEN’S TOWER (Kız Kulesi), also known in the ancient Greek and medieval Byzantine periods as Leander's Tower ,sits on a small islet located in the Bosphorus strait off the coast of Uskudar.Maiden's Tower was first built by the ancient Athenian general Alcibiades in 408 BC to control the movements of the Persian ships in the Bosphorus strait.The tower was later enlarged and rebuilt as a fortress by the Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus in 1110 AD and was rebuilt and restored several times by the Ottoman Turks ,most significantly in 1509 and 1763.Today, there is a restaurant in the first floor and a café at the top of the tower.

GALATA TOWER The tower was built as Christea Turris in 1348 during an expansion of the Genoese colony in Constantinople.It was the apex of the fortifications surrounding the Genoese citadel of Galata. The current tower should not be confused with the old Tower of Galata an original Byzantine tower, named Megalos Pyrgos, which controlled the northern end of the massive sea chain that closed the entrance of the Golden Horn. This tower was on a different site and was largely destroyed during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The 66.90 m tower (62.59 m without the ornament on top) was the city's tallest structure when built. In the 1960s the original wooden interior of the tower was replaced by a concrete structure and it was opened to the public. There is a restaurant and café on its upper floors which commands a magnificent view of Istanbul and the Bosphorus. Also located on the upper floors is a nightclub which hosts a Turkish show. There are two operating elevators that carry visitors from the lower level to the upper levels.

GALATA BRIDGE The oldest recorded bridge over the Golden Horn in Istanbul was built during the reign of Justinian the Great in the 6th century AD close to the area near the Theodosian Land Walls at the western end of the city. In 1453, during the Fall of Constantinople, the Turks assembled a mobile bridge by putting their ships next to each other and used it for transporting their troops from one side of the Golden Horn to the other. In the years 1502-1503 plans to construct the first bridge in the current location were discussed. Sultan Bayezid II solicited a design and Leonardo da Vinci, utilizing three well-known geometrical principles, the pressed-bow, parabolic curve and keystone arch, created an unprecedented single span 240 m long and 24 m wide bridge for the Golden Horn, which would become the longest bridge in the world of that period if constructed. However, the ambitious design did not meet with the Sultan's approval. Another Italian artist, Michelangelo was also invited to design a bridge for Istanbul. Michelangelo rejected the proposal, and the idea of building a bridge across the Golden Horn was shelved until the 19th century.Today's Galata bridge was built by the Turkish construction company STFA exactly on the same place of the previous bridge, between Karaköy and Eminönü, and completed in December 1994. It is a bascule bridge, ranking first of its type in the world which is 490 m long with a main span of 80 m. The deck of the bridge is 42 m wide and has three vehicular lanes and one walkway in each direction. It has also recently had tram tracks added to it, allowing the Istanbul Tram to run from the suburbs near Ataturk International Airport to a few blocks before Dolmabahçe Palace.

PRINCES’S ISLAND The Island is in the Sea of Marmara, twenty kilometers from the historic peninsula. This popular summer resort with its sandy beaches and pinewood scenery, was once the pleasure island of the Byzantine Princes’.

BOSPHORUS Bosphorus is the name of the strait which lies between Europe and Asia. The strait Bosphorus connects the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea and its length is approximately 30 km., 21 mile long. It runs in the general direction of NE to SW and varying greatly in width from 700 m. 0.45 mile to over 3500m. 2 miles at its widest. Its depth is generally 50-75 m., 150-200 feet but at some points reach to 100 m. 300 feet. There are two strong currents in the sea, one is from the Black Sea towards the Sea of Marmara which runs from the surface due to the low salt density and level difference of two seas. The other current lies from the reverse side, from the deep, towards the Black Sea. Because of the dangerous currents and the narrowness of the strait, all the ships passing through the strait should have pilot captains.Bosphorus Cruise is a must-see tour for the Istanbul visitors because it is a wonderful opportunity to observe the both sides of Istanbul. There are municipal ferries which operate daily three times from Eminonu, port number 3.(BOGAZ HATTI). The first ferry is at 10:35 am, the second one is at 12:00 am and the last one is at 1:35 pm. The ferry is a traditional one, which has seats inside and outside the interior.

ARCHEOLOGY MUSEUM The Istanbul Archaeology Museum actually consists of three museums. Those are the main Archeology Museum, the Old Eastern Works Museum and the Enameled Kiosk Museum. It houses over one million objects that represent almost all of the eras and civilizations in world history.

CHORA MUSEUM Chora Church (Kariye Camii in Turkish) is the most interesting Byzantine church after Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The church was founded by Maria Doukaina, mother-in-law of Alexius Comnenos I between 1077-1081. The importance of the church does not come from the building itself , the frescoes and the mosaics are superb and reflect the magnificient heritage of Byzantine Art.

TAKSIM Taksim is like a motivation point of the city for the social life and entertaining areas that it includes. When you walk down to the Istiklal Street, you can feel and see the signs of old city dwelled here with its old European architecture. The atmosphere of a mix culture can be obviously felt here people from different too different cultures live and work here. Taksim is a unique place where you can find a bar which plays only flamenco or Indian music or heavy metal.Just in Beyoglu there are over 200 bars and night clubs where at least you can pick a one which is specific to your taste. On the other hand, Taksim is a great place for shopping; you can find whatever you wish there. For the options that it presents, it is the greatest shopping area of the Istanbul. Beside, if you are looking for more expensive staffs, there are huge shopping centers such as Akmerkez, Capitol, Carousel and Galleria.

THE TUNEL = THE FIRST FUNICULAR Not only it is a funicular but it is seen as one of the oldest subways in the world after that of London in 1863 and New York in 1868! But let us not forget also the ' Ficelle' of Lyon, underground funicular from Rue Term to the Croix-Rousse, which functioned of 1863 to 1967! At the same time Istanbul Tunel is the shortest railway in the world.The length of the layout is 606,50 m.

RUMELI FORTRESS Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror built Rumeli Fortress in four months only and directly opposite to Anadoluhisari in 1452 in preparation for the final attack on Constantinople (Istanbul), which led to the downfall of the Byzantine Empire. Today, the fortress hosts many concerts and dramatic performances in its amphitheatre usually during the summer months.
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