Friday, November 21, 2014

Travel guide to Istanbul, Turkey

Recently I was able to visit Istanbul, Turkey to participate TAD Summit to represent hSenid Mobile Solutions with our API Management platform.

During the stay, I was able to visit couple of historical places around Istanbul city in 2 days. I would like to share the details of each in brief where you can use these info as your travel guide to Istanbul, Turkey.

1. Bosphorus - is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, the Bosporus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara. Between the limits, the strait is 31 km long, with a width of 3,329 m

2. Hagia Sophia -  is a former Greek Orthodox patriarchal basilica (church), later an imperial mosque, and now a museum

3. Prince Islands -  is in the Sea of Marmara and consists of 7 islands. As there is no traffic on the Islands, the only transport being horse and cart, they are incredibly peaceful compared with the city of Istanbul. Princes and other royalty were exiled on the islands, and later members of the Ottoman sultans family were exiled there too.

4. The Blue Mosque - This consists of blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is still popularly used as a mosque. It also comprises a tomb of the founder, a madrasa and a hospice

5. Galata Tower - is a medieval stone tower. The nine-story tower is 66.90 meters tall.

6. Topkapi Palace - residence of the Ottoman sultans. As well as a royal residence, the palace was a setting for state occasions and royal entertainments. It is now a museum.  It also contains important holy relics of the Muslim world, including Muhammed's cloak and sword

7. Streets of Grand Bazaar - is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world with lots of shops.

8. Obelisk of Theodosius - is the Ancient Egyptian obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III re-erected in the Hippodrome of Constantinople. Originally 30m tall, like the Lateran obelisk

9. Ottoman Empire - the Turkish Empire or Turkey, was a Sunni Islamic sultanate and later a caliphate founded by Oghuz Turks under Osman Bey in northwestern Anatolia in 1299.

10. Church of St. Anthony of Padua - is a basilica and the largest church of the Roman Catholic Church in Istanbul, Turkey.

11. Taksim square - situated in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey. The monument commemorates the 5th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, following the Turkish War of Independence.