Istanbul City of Two Continents

City with a history of thousands of years has made ​​many people fall in love with its charm. Napoleon who once ruled half of Europe had dubbed Istanbul as the capital of the world. Orhan Paruk, Nobel literature laureates in 2006 to dedicate a special book for her hometown. Even the latest James Bond movie reportedly scheduled to be re-filmed in this city, following two new film From Russia With Love and The World is not Enough. Historical and cultural wealth of Istanbul's special summarized, as told by Hani Sulastri Hamid, Executive summary by darmansjah

Istanbul is one of the largest city in Turkey. Although no longer functioning as the capital of Istanbul since 1923 but remains the most important in this country. Every year millions of tourists visit this city because of the many interesting places that are not owned by another State. If you love traveling and are interested to learn the history, background of Istanbul who was formerly Byzantium and Constantinople, and the long history of the Ottoman Empire that make this city has many interesting relics, you have been to Istanbul as its history is rich do not be surprised if Istanbul is crowned European Culture Capital in 2010. Another thing that makes this city interesting is it lies on two continents, Asia and Europe.

Region is the first time I visited Sultanahmet, the most futuristic in Turkey. Here there are many buildings that must be visited by tourists such as Hagia Sophia, Topkaki Palace, Blue Mosque, Basilica Cistern and Grand Bazaaar. Because of its location adjacent to, any building can be visited in one day wkatu full. By the time I visited the Hagia Sophia, the queue to buy tickets was long snaking because many wanted to see first hand the charm of this historic building. Hagia Sophia is the red building with a lot of the dome. At first Istanbul was an icon of a church founded by Emperor Justinian in the 6th century to replace the previous cathedral destroyed by fire. In 1453 Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople Hagia Sophia changed into a mosque. Substitution of the functions of the church into a mosque seen on various sides of this magnificent building. Among the mosaic-mosaic depicting the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ on the walls visitors can see and written in Arabic calligraphy Allah and Muhammad in big letters. The interesting thing here is a stone that has a perforation in the middle called the wish stone. When visitors enter and conduct another round of thumb, it is hoped will be achieved. Oh yes, the Hagia Sophia to enter visitors must pay 20 lira for a ticket.

After visiting the Aya Sofia, I headed Topkaki Palace. Not too far away from Hagia Sophia, enough to walk about five minutes. After paying $ 20 lira admission, I then entered the gates of the magnificent Palace Topkaki like a palace in a fairy tale. There is a large door and two buds dome on the right and left. The palace was formerly the residence of the Ottoman dynasty sultan. Here visitors can see the Harem, the palace which is where the sultan to various activities. I can feel the grandeur of being a sultan when I saw this place. Topkaki also save a lot of historical objects such as jewelry, clothing and tools of war legacy of the Ottoman Empire that ended at the beginning of the 20th century. This palace also save a lot of Muslim heritage artifacts, among which is one of the swords of the Prophet Muhammad SAW.

Having exhausted the magnificent surrounds Topkaki Palace and very wide, I went to the Blue Mosque. Blue mosque is said to be due to the blue dome is very beautiful when viewed from a distance. Historic mosque is a place to rest and worship for those who are Muslims. Because it is still used as places of worship, visitors do not have to pay admission like other historic buildings. Interestingly the mosque does not prohibit non-Muslim visitors to enter. They can go as long as it uses decent clothes that cover arms and legs. Board may lend the mosque fabric covering the arms and legs when a visitor needs it.