Arriving in
ISTANBUL can come
as a shock. Most visitors head for
the old city in and around
Sultanahmet
, where though you're still
technically in Europe, there are
immediate differences: back streets
teem with traders pushing handcarts,
stevedores carrying burdens twice
their size, and omnipresent
shoeshine boys. Men still monopolize
the public bars and teahouses, while
many women cover their heads,
averting their gaze. Yet this is
merely one aspect of modern
Istanbul; only a couple of
kilometres to the north you'll find
the former European quarter of
Beyoglu
, with its trendy bars and
cutting-edge dance clubs, while
north again are the pavement cafés
and restaurants of
Ortaköy
and the swish Bosphorus suburbs of
Arnavutköy, Bebek and Etiler. These
days the city has a social and
cultural diversity to match any of
its Western counterparts.
Istanbul is the only city in the
world to have played capital to
consecutive Christian and Islamic
empires, and retains features of
both, often in congested proximity. Byzantium
, as the city was formerly known,
was an important trading centre, but
only gained real power in the fourth
century AD, when Constantine chose
it as the new capital of the Roman
Empire . Later, as Constantinople
, the city became increasingly
dissociated from Rome, adopting the
Greek language and Christianity and
becoming, effectively, the capital
of an independent empire. In 1203
the city was sacked by the
Crusaders, and when the Byzantines,
led by Michael VIII Palaeologus,
regained control in 1261, many of
the major buildings had fallen into
disrepair, with the empire itself
greatly diminished in size. As the
Byzantines declined, the Ottoman
Empire prospered, and in 1453
the city was captured by Mehmet the
Conqueror, who shortly after began
rebuilding works. In the following
century, the victory was reinforced
by the great military achievements
of Selim the Grim and by the reign
of Süleyman the Magnificent, whose
conquests helped fund the greatest
of all Ottoman architects, Mimar
Sinan. By the nineteenth century,
however, the glory days of Ottoman
domination were firmly over. Defeat
in World War I was followed by the War
of Independence , after which
Atatürk created a new capital in
Ankara - although Istanbul retained
its importance as a centre of trade
and commerce. In recent years
, the population of the city has
reached twelve million, a fifth of
the country's total, and is still on
the rise, adding further to the
cacophony and congestion.
The city is divided in two by the
Bosphorus , which runs
between the Black Sea and the Sea of
Marmara, dividing Europe from Asia.
At right angles to it, the inlet of
the Golden Horn cuts the
European side in two. The old centre
of Sultanahmet, occupying the tip of
the peninsula south of the Golden
Horn, is home to the city's main
sightseeing attractions: the
cathedral of Aya Sofya , Topkapi
Palace and the Blue Mosque
, and as such many people find that
they spend all their time here.
Annoying hustlers mean first
impressions can be negative - but
thankfully omnipresent tourist
police have done much to clear out
the worst, and will respond quickly
to any problems you may have.
Further west near the explorable city
walls lies the Kariye Camii
, which contains the city's finest
surviving Byzantine mosaics and
frescoes. Across the Golden Horn to
the north, the Galata Tower
offers superb panoramic views over
the city.
