Anyone who has walked around the upper platform of Istanbul\u2019s Galata Tower will notice history in the city\u2019s skyline. Instead of the boxy skyscrapers and glass buildings we\u2019re used to in America\u2019s big cities, Istanbul\u2019s pointed mosque minarets and jagged palace walls give the city a creatively pure look. Every day, the Bosphorus shines a bright blue, shaping a stunning scene against the red tile roofs and typically clear sky of this bi-continental city.<\/p>\n
The Bosphorus divides the city between Europe and Asia, and anyone can take a ferry or bus trip between the two sides for about $1 or $2 each way. As an American, I would normally find this type of travel unthinkable. Travel leisurely between two continents? It seems it should be more difficult than just a 15-minute leisurely ride. As my friend Jessica stated quite simply on our ferry ride to Asia, \u201cwe\u2019re sailing down the middle of two continents right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
What a wonderful, unique experience to have ventured in a lifetime.<\/p>\n
The Turkish food is both delicious and cheap, even for the traveling vegetarian. Servers bring a side of bread with every restaurant meal, including breakfast, and no one \u2013 locals and tourists alike \u2013 can seem to drink enough tea. I have been part of this crowd, sipping local tea (pronounced \u201cchai\u201d in Turkish) out of the petite glasses every chance I get. And they are glasses too \u2013 typically a curvy glass cup with a handle. I found my favorite dining place to be anywhere along the Bosphorus, shoveling bread into my mouth while sipping tea and staring across the water at another continent.<\/p>\n
Everything I see seems unfathomably old. We have walked through mosques built in the early 1100s and looked at jewelry and other prized possessions from the mid-500s. We have ruins of old Pueblo settlements in the Western United States that date back to 750. What is said to be the oldest continuously inhabited site in the U.S. was built between 1000-1200. Besides this\u2026unless one makes a special trip to these very specific, somewhat secluded areas\u2026our earliest buildings date only to the early 1600s (mid-1500s if you count Puerto Rico).<\/p>\n
Istanbul radiates the under-appreciated history we learned about in eighth grade social studies classes \u2013 Constantinople, ancient Byzantium, the Ottoman Empire, sultans, palaces\u2026If only I could remember all that knowledge as I walk amongst these old, beautifully designed, hand-crafted walls.<\/p>\n
Of course, Istanbul beams beauty in all sorts of ways. These are just a few things I found to be especially spectacular.<\/p>\n
via What makes Istanbul beautiful | Scholars and Rogues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anyone who has walked around the upper platform of Istanbul\u2019s Galata Tower will notice history in the city\u2019s skyline. Instead of the boxy skyscrapers and glass buildings we\u2019re used to in America\u2019s big cities, Istanbul\u2019s pointed mosque minarets and jagged palace walls give the city a creatively pure look. Every day, the Bosphorus shines a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":782164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1094],"tags":[102],"class_list":["post-58203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tourism","tag-istanbul"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}