Istanbul Travel Guide & Information
from Istanbul Luxury Vacation Rentals: Istanbul Holiday Apartments
from Istanbul Luxury Vacation Rentals: Istanbul Holiday Apartments
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Throughout its long history, Istanbul has stood as a symbol of greatness, a
confluence of peoples, languages, religions and continents. It is impossible to
visit the city and not be moved by it; not only by the grandeur of its
monuments and the unsurpassed beauty of its setting, but by its vibrancy and
energy.
The former capital city of not one but three empires, Istanbul today is a lively and
exciting city of 12 million people, built around the Bosphorus, one of the most
majestic waterways in the world. Enjoy the magic and mystery of ancient
Constantinople while staying at Istanbul's finest luxury apartments!
History
"As for the site of the city itself, it seems to have been created
by nature for the capital of the World."
Ghislain de Busbecq, Turkish Letters, 1540s
Istanbul Government Istanbul History Site
In Istanbul, mankind and nature have combined to make a city unequalled anywhere
else on earth. The city's legendary past dates from nearly three thousand years ago
when Jason and the Argonauts rowed past Istanbul and up the Bosphorus in their
search for the Golden Fleece on the eastern shores of the Black Sea.
Istanbul's recorded history began in the middle of the seventh century BC with
Byzas, the semi-mythical Megarian hero, who founded the first city on Sarayburnu,
the promontory above the Golden Horn. At this promontory the Bosphorus,
gateway to the Black Sea in the east, flows into the Sea of Marmara and eventually
the Mediterranean. Strategic and pecuniary interests made this promontory where
Topkapi Palace stands today an attractive site for colonization.
The Bosphorus immediately became an important trade route, vesting those who
controlled it with power and revenue. Bloody battles for Byzantium and this
waterway followed involving the Persians, Spartans, Athenians and Macedonians.
Alexander the Great conquered the city without a struggle in the 4th century BC,
but 200 years later Byzantium joined all of western Asia Minor in the Roman
province of Asia.
Constantine the Great's decision in 324 to transfer the capital of the Roman Empire
from Italy to Byzantium was one of the great turning points in history.
It was an inspired choice. Set on a hilly promontory at the mouth of the Bosphorus,
Byzantium was almost impregnable to attack and dominated the vital trade route to
the Black Sea.
Constantine took a keen interest in the transformation of the small coastal settlement
into an imperial capital. When the city was formally dedicated in 330 A.D. he called
it New Rome. But it was under his name that the city was to take its place in history.
For, as Constantinople, it was to become the capital of an empire that was to last for
over one thousand years.
To Western travelers, accustomed to the cramped towns and villages of Dark Age
Europe, Constantinople was a place of wonder, a vast teeming metropolis of
magnificent buildings and fabulous wealth. To the Byzantines it was simply "The
City", the center not just of the empire but of the whole world. Artists, traders,
philosophers and craftsmen flocked to Constantinople, each making their own
contribution to the city's unique character.
Within a hundred years of its foundation the city had outgrown its boundaries and
the emperor Theodosius II had to erect new defenses to accommodate the
burgeoning population. The new walls were over 12 meters high and ran for nearly
20 kilometers. The defenses were to be breached only twice: in 1204 by the armies
of the Fourth Crusade; and in 1453 when the city finally fell to the Turks.
"... a city richer than any other since the beginning of time."
Geoffrey de Villehardouin,
History of the Conquest of Constantinople, 1203-4
Although the Byzantines recaptured Constantinople from the Crusaders in 1261, their
Empire was in irreversible decline. Weakened by the territorial gains of Ottoman
Turks in the east, the Byzantine Empire shrank until, by the beginning of the 1400s,
Constantinople was practically all that remained. When the young Sultan Mehmet II
conquered it for the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the city had a population of just under
100,000.
The history of the city under the Turks has been characterized by adaptation
and enrichment rather than destruction.
Churches were converted into mosques and ancient stone reused in new buildings.
The Byzantine land walls, a massive belt of brick and stone, studded with 96 towers,
are still awesomely impressive over 1500 years after their construction. The vast
dome of Justinian's 6th century masterpiece of Haghia Sofia, the church of Holy
Wisdom, continues to command the skyline of the Old City, even today. The oval
Hippodrome, where the Byzantines would gather to watch chariot races and circus
games, is still clearly visible today. The 4th century aqueduct of Valens, which
dominates the skyline in Unkapanı, carried water well into the 19th century.
"The heavens may turn about the earth as they will
They will find no city like Istanbul"
Nabi (1642-1712)
The city, which came to be known as Istanbul, flourished under Ottoman rule and
became home to Greeks and Armenians as well as Sephardic Jews fleeing from the
Spanish Inquisition. The Ottomans repaired buildings and aqueducts and built
palaces, bazaars, fountains and mosques with their adjoining complexes of pious
foundations, schools, hospitals, inns and tombs, creating an imperial capital worthy
of a great power. Istanbul in the mid-16th century was once more the grandest and
most prosperous city in the world.
During the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire reached its
zenith, stretching from Vienna, which it never captured, in the west to Tunis in the
east, encompassing all the land of the Levant, the Balkans, the Arabian Peninsula,
Egypt, the Crimea and the Caucasus.
By the end of the 17th century, however, the empire began a slow process of
decline. Ottoman institutions became ingrown and stagnant at a time when Europe
entered a period of discovery, exploration and expansion.
Following more than four centuries of war, conquest and defeat, the Ottoman rulers
turned away from military engagement and diplomacy to more frivolous pleasures. In
the early 18th century, under the patronage of Sultan Ahmed III, Istanbul entered a
halcyon epoch known as the Tulip Age, a time of elegance and delight. During this
period, relations with Europe intensified. Istanbul witnessed the emergence of
European architectural styles and ushered in the printing press for the publication of
books in the Turkish language. Impetus was given to science, libraries, translation
and intellectual exploration.
"Istanbul needs no aid from imagination to make it
one of the brightest gems in the diadem of nature..."
Miss Julia Pardoe
The Beauties of the Bosphorus, 1835
Once the gateway to new ideas had been breached, it could not be sealed again. The
emergence of a strong reforming sultan in the early 19th century set the stage for a
period of westernization known as "Tanzimat" or reordering. The introduction of
western law codes culminated in the first Ottoman constitution and parliament in
1877.
European influence was visible in many parts of Ottoman life in the 19th century.
Istanbul could boast of opera houses, lycees and a stock exchange. Clothing fashion
of the wealthy was based on European designs. The flowing robes of the Janissaries,
the army's elite corps, were replaced by the uniform and epaulettes of the modern
officer. Turkish statesmen, including the sultan, traveled to Europe, and Istanbul
became a brilliant, diplomatic city, filled with majestic foreign embassies. The new,
European-style Dolmabahçe Palace with its grand ballroom replaced the courtyards
and pavilions of Topkapı Palace.
World War I put an end to Istanbul's role as one of the great imperial capitals of the
early 20th century. Wartime austerity was followed by British occupation between
1919 and 1922, and when the city returned to Turkish rule, it was a city shorn of its
empire, refashioned as the cultural and business center of the new Turkish Republic.
A new and hectic period of expansion began in the 1950s. Turkey's economic
miracle took off as entrepreneurs created a new and vigorous private sector. Industry
replaced trade as the source of Istanbul's wealth, which resulted in an influx of
people from the hinterlands of Anatolia that continues today.
Istanbul today is a bustling, sprawling, sophisticated metropolis, full of apartments
and office blocks, hotels and restaurants, a trendsetter in fashion and decoration but
also at ease with its own past. Byzantine palaces, walls and churches stand shoulder
to shoulder with Ottoman mosques, monuments and palaces. On the Prince's
Islands in the Sea of Marmara, phaeton carriages and donkeys remain the only means
of transport. Ferryboats and caiques still ply the Bosphorus, now spanned by two
intercontinental bridges, affording enchanting views of the city and its shores.
Renovation of 19th and early 20th century buildings in Galata, Beyoglu and other
areas have revitalized the historic inner city, creating an unusually attractive urban
landscape.
Boston Globe: 36 Hours in Istanbul
Chicago Tribune: Tapping into cool Istanbul
New York Times Istanbul Travel Page
Newsweek: One of the Coolest Cities in the World
Travel Intelligence: Istanbul-Constantinople
The Independent: Istanbul-Europe's Most Exotic City
Official Turkish Tourism Site for Istanbul
UNESCO World Heritage listing for Istanbul
