10 Most Beautiful Places in ISTANBUL
Istanbul is an utterly bewitching city – a mesmerzing, schizoid medley of sumptuous palaces, domes and minaretes, cobble-stoned streets, decrepit old wooden houses, squalid concrete tower blocks, graceful art-nouveau apartments, international fashion shops, bazaars and beggars, street vendors and stray dogs and, above all, the boats of the Bosphorus and the promise of the Orient.
Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus Strait, looking towards Europe but with its soul firmly rooted in Asia. On the European side, the city is divided once more, north and south of the Golden Horn inlet.
In the south are the superb World Heritage sites of the Blue Mosque, the magnificent 15th-century Topkapi Palace and Ayasofya – a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture. Here too is the Grand Bazaar, Kapali Carsi, a vast labyrinth of narrow, covered passageways selling everything from cheap tat to carpets worth thousands.
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