Yvon and I travelled to Istanbul in April of 2006, and spent a little over a week exploring this ancient city. Once known as Constantinople, it's role in Christianity is an important one, though it is now almost completely Muslim. It's a beautiful and historic city, quite vibrant. Yvon has poor memories of it, though, since as tourists we were frequently the marks of locals looking to make some money off us (even though I was hassled more than he was - he was often taken for a turk while I stood out as a definite foreigner). All in all, we found the locals to be a somewhat suspicious and untrustworthy lot.
Photo List (Total 224 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
-
Central Istanbul (81 photos) - Central Istanbul is one of the world's most historic cities, and this gallery shows many of its wonders, including the Sultanahmet Mosque, the Hagia Sophia, the Topkapi Palace, the Grand Bazaar, the Egyptian Bazaar, and Sarachane Park.
-
Beyoglu (76 photos) - This neighbourhood, to the north of the central city and where we stayed, is Istanbul's most sophisticated. It's long pedestrian street, the Istaklal Caddesi, is great for a liesurely stroll. The Galata Tower offers fantastic views over the city. This gallery also includes general building views, a few palaces and mosques, and our visit to the Galata Bridge.
-
Northern city (30 photos) - We explored the non-touristy reaches of the northern city, which took us into some fairly impoverished areas, and also revealed just how horrible Istanbul's modern architecture is. Lots of bad skyscrapers here.
-
Asia (22 photos) - Most of the city is on the European side of the Bosphorus, but we took a ferry to the Asian side and had a long walk there.
-
Transit photos (15 photos) - A few photos of Istanbul's various rail transit options, including subways, trolleys, and LRT, and a form of heavy rail.
