ISTANBUL: The gate of Orient

In the 7th century, Greek colonists led by King Byzas established the colony of Byzantium, the Greek name for a city on the Bosphorus Channel. It was a so desirable location for trade and transport and its nemesis also. In the early 100's BC, it became part of the Roman Empire and in 306 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great made Byzantium capital of the entire Roman Empire. From that point on, the city was known as Constantinople. In 1453. the Ottoman Turks successfully conquered Constantinople Renamed Istanbul, and it became the third and last capital of the Ottoman Empire. When the Republic of Turkey was born in 1923 after the War of Independence, Kemal Ataturk moved the capital to the city of Ankara.
Nowadays Istanbul is an ancient historical town mixing Greek, Roman and Turkish culture, and the meeting point of the occidental and the oriental traditions.
Istanbul is together the charming beauty of the ancient monuments as the Topkapi Palace, St. Sofia Mosque and the Blu Mosque, the lively and shouting Grand Bazar and the modernity of the Bridge on the Bosforo Channel, which joints Europe and Asia. It is a modern and caotic metropilis where it is still possible to have a walk in the narrow oriental-style street of the old qurtiers, and to stop in one quite coffee shop along the road, for a waterpipe smoking or a turkish coffee. Like its coffee Istanbul has to be apreciate slowly and its treasures have to be descovered one by one.

To know more:
www.turchia.it (Italian)
www.tourismturkey.org
www.istanbultravelguide.net

Reportage: 101 photos on CD-Rom