Best places in Istanbul
The Unique Soul of İstanbul
"If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on İstanbul" says famous French writer and politician Lamartine about İstanbul the great city that embraces two continents Asia and Europe. As known as the capital of the capitals, İstanbul has created grand peace empires from Roman Empire to Byzantine also known as Constantinople through thousands of years. This magnificent city follows the modern in all aspects while ideally preserving its proverbial history. The most beautiful landmarks of the city is situated on the peninsula between Golden Horn and Marmara. Minarets of the centuries old mosques rising from the hills of İstanbul create a fascinating atmosphere and invite tourists to a magnificent history full of victories. Known as the symbol of İstanbul with its 6 minarets Sultanahmet Mosque-also called Blue Mosque- is worth seeing at least once in a lifetime. On the opposite of this great mosque reflecting the sense of art of Ottoman Empire, you will see Hagia Sophia Museum. Built as a church in the reign of Empreror Justinian, this museum is decorated with mosaics that depict Virgin Mary, Jesus and many other saints. On a hill that fronts on both Marmara and Bosphorus, Topkapi Palace is situated. Here, all the culture lying behind today's İstanbul and remnants of the lifestyle of Ottoman Sultans from the collections of china wares to the riveting harems you can see. Chosen as the Capital of Culture 2010, İstanbul is a city in which the modern architectures come together with historical monuments. Grand Bazaar is one of the most eye-catching examples of this natural combination. This mystical place insists on bearing the traces of the antique while offering its visitors the modern world's brand new products like jewelleries, carpets and costumes. You can explore this charming bazaar and then a Bosphorus tour will make you understand the another face of İstanbul. Uniquely built waterside residences bestriding on both sides of Bosphorus; Dolmabahce Palace, Rumeli and Anatolian Fortress, restaurants, cafes, parks and night clubs will fascinate you. For example as one of the most popular one Istiklal Street in Beyoglu with its colorful activities and its famous red tramway, subjects to the most famous photographs of Istanbul. There are many street performers on both side of this narrow street on which cafes, bars, pubs and restaurants in different styles are situated. After walking around the old streets; visiting museums, fortresses, art galleries and historical places, then you can enjoy the nightlife in popular night clubs in this city that never sleeps.
Çiçek Pasajı (Flower Passage)
Beyoğlu's ornate Çiçek Pasajı (Flower Passage) on Istiklal Caddesi at Galatasaray Square is filled with restaurants. Each evening the tables are filled with Turks and foreigners who come to talk, eat, laugh and linger over dozens of plates of meze, succulent kebaps, seafood, sweet desserts, and glass after glass of milky Turkish rakı, beer or wine. The Pasaj is a shrine to Turks' love of long, congenial group dinners, but...the Pasaj has no flowers. So why the name? The Çiçek Pasajı is the L-shaped courtyard of a building named Cité de Péra, one of the first European-style buildings constructed during the Ottoman Empire's late-19th-century effort to modernize. In its 19th- and early 20th-century heyday the Cité de Péra building housed posh shops on its ground floor in the Pasaj, and offices on the floors above. By the time I arrived in 1968, the Pasaj had become a bunch of workmen's meyhanes (tavernas) serving cheap but good food and strong drink. The shops were by then all simple restaurants. Beer barrels were rolled out into the Pasaj, square slabs of marble placed atop them, low three-legged stools set around, and Istanbul's taxi drivers, craftsmen and minor merchants came to eat, talk, shout, sing, and sometimes drink a bit too much. It was a jolly place, with itinerant musicians, vendors, pimps and catamites circulating freely—and getting lots of business. Then, in the late 1980s, about a century after it was built, part of the Cité de Péra collapsed. The building was closed. When Turkey's tourism boom arrived in the 1980s and 1990s, the building was restored, renovated and re-opened as a more upscale eating-and-drinking locale for a somewhat richer class of patrons. The patchwork of tarps sheltering the courtyard from the elements was replaced with a modern canopy. A dinner at one of the restaurants in the Çiçek Pasajı is now noticeably more sedate, refined and expensive than when I first dined there over four decades ago.
Darüzziyafe
Naturalness, sense of taste and cure constitute eminent features of Turkish cuisine. Turks, on account of the experiences they have gained for eras, have cared for the foods richly ornamenting their dining table to have benefical, delicious and energetic features. Indeed, they have gained great proficiency in such matters as how to cook any foodstuffs without spoiling its nature, making them more delicious and handling some of foodstuffs that could last long. In that manner, they, with a sensitive delight, turned the dining table and the food into an art by cooking the meat that best suits the meal made of, serving the kind of Şerbet (sweetened fruit juice) that would best suit the meal served with.Naturalness, sense of taste and cure constitute eminent features of Turkish cuisine. Turks, on account of the experiences they have gained for eras, have cared for the foods richly ornamenting their dining table to have benefical, delicious and energetic features. Indeed, they have gained great proficiency in such matters as how to cook any foodstuffs without spoiling its nature, making them more delicious and handling some of foodstuffs that could last long. In that manner, they, with a sensitive delight, turned the dining table and the food into an art by cooking the meat that best suits the meal made of, serving the kind of Şerbet (sweetened fruit juice) that would best suit the meal served with. Thus, Darüzziyafe exists by this taste and ardour of being heir of such a rich inheritance.
Del-mare
Çengelköy, which is one of the most beautiful places on the Bosphorus and one of the friendliest neigborhoods of Istanbul. Del-Mare has been a highly popular venue for the people of Istanbul since the day it opened.
1001 Colum Cistern
According to Byzantium resources, The Binbirdirek Cistern was constructed in the fourth century as the second biggest water reservoir in Istanbul after Bazalika Cistern (Yerebatan Palace).
Adile Sultan Palace
Adile Sultan Palace is a former royal residence, which was used later as a school building, and is a cultural centre today located in Kandilli neighbourhood of İstanbul, Turkey.
Archeological Museum
Situated on the Asian side of the Bosphorus in Kandilli, Adile Sultan Palace, which was built upon the order of Sultan Abdülmecit in the name of his sister in 1876, has been restored thanks to the donation made by the deceased businessman, Sakıp Sabancı after the great fire it suffered in 1986
CNR EXPO
CNR Expo is one of the world’s leading trade fair organisers, with over 31 years experience in the industry.
Haliç Congress Center
Imagine a meeting venue by the sea where urban sounds mingle with the cries of gulls and waves lapping against the shores of the Haliç Congress Center; an unforgettable scenic location where you can take a break from the chaotic city without actually having to leave it.
Istanbul Congress Centre
İstanbul Congress Center- is the newest and biggest convention centre of İstanbul owned by İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality and opened on September 2009. The İstanbul Congress Centre, which is located in Harbiye district, is built between the İstanbul Convention & Exhibition Centre (ICEC) and Cemil Topuzlu open-air concert hall.
Ahrida Synagogue
Located at Balat, the synagogue was built by those who had migrated to Macedonia from Ahri borough in 15th century.
Aşkenazi Synagogue
This synagogue is among the other synagogues of Jewish people belonging to Aşkenaz community living in İstanbul and the only one that has still been in service.
Bakırcılar (copper Smiths)
Bazaar Lesser known and smaller, but nonetheless just as interesting is this market in Beyazit, under the north and east walls of Istanbul University.
