May be you are planning your trip to Turkey and thinking if you should add Istanbul into your itinerary or may be you are planning a trip only to Istanbul as city holidays are becoming more and more popular. You might be asking to yourself, “is it worth to visit Istanbul?” The answer is a big yes.
I’m a lucky guy who travelled all around the world and has been to more than forty countries (and many more cities) but Istanbul is simply one of the most interesting, if not the most, cities of our old planet. You might think that I’m biased, yes I was born and grew up in Istanbul, but let me clear myself and tell you why Istanbul is such a wonderful city.
Istanbul combines the all three most important qualities of some of the most interesting and beautiful cities of the world. History of Rome, natural beauty of Rio de Janeiro and human made beauty of Paris are all in one city: Istanbul. May be we should add a couple of more qualities on top of these: Istanbul is safe, child friendly, not very expensive, provides one of the best cuisines in the world and has a thrilling nightlife.
Let’s concentrate on the three qualities first:
History of Rome: When Constantine founded Istanbul the city was called Nova Roma (New Rome). Besides Istanbul was the capital not only to Romans but to Byzantine and then to Ottomans. So in many ways more flavour is there in Istanbul than Rome. Layer of history over and over!
Natural beauty of Rio de Janeiro: The way the hills of Istanbul along the Bosphorus is a lot like how the hills of Rio faces the sea. Yes Istanbul is not tropical and Bosphorus doesn’t have beaches, note that it is still perfectly possible to swim in Bosphorus and at other beaches Istanbul, but natural beauty of Istanbul is comparable to Rio de Janeiro.
Human made beauty of Paris: This might be the most controversial part. I don’t say that there is no human made ugliness in Istanbul but some parts of Istanbul present the very good sample of architectural beauty. Wooden Mansions along the Bosphorus and at Princes Islands, Parisian style buildings along and around Istiklal street and traditional Turkish wooden houses in Zeyrek are some of them aside very important monuments such as Hagia Sophia, Blue Mosque, Suleymaniye Mosque, Topkapi Palace and many hammams.
Does this sound too good to be true?! Come and see Istanbul, you’ll come again and again!
Do you agree or disagree with my comments here? Please write a comment here and discuss all together.
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