While walking around turkey epically istanbul, the nature may charm you with the beautiful soul calming views and air. but on the other hand, it is so rich city with a lot of small details of statues, to the big perfect mosques, towers and churches. allow us to escort you around istanbul and its monuments to add a bit of advice where to visit to feel the greatness of the city.
published: 28 September 2022 / updated: 8 December 2024Share
Kiz Kulesi (The Maiden Tower):
The Maiden Tower or (Kız Külesi) is Istanbul’s big mark towers. It is so famous it can be found in almost any Turkish series or movies. It lies in the little straight of the Bosporus in the middle of the water. It can be even seen from the skies if you are familiar with Istanbul structure. The Maiden Tower is located beside Üsküder in the Asian side of Istanbul. It is good to mention that you can buy ticket to jump into a small boat that can take you to the tower itself. The tower itself has a small quite restaurant with an amazing view to the European and Asian side of Istanbul. The view gets better earlier in the morning and in the golden hour through the sunset. In the opposite side you may pass by the small wooden seats and tables to have your Turkish Tea while enjoying the sea breeze and the charming sun beauty. It is very recommended to take a picture of your glass of your tea with the tower and post it into your social accounts.
Sultan Ahmet Mosque / Aya Sofia Mosque:
It is pretty hard to mention one without the other because both of the mosques are facing each other in Sultan Ahmet Square. The Sultan Ahmet Square is located in the European side and it is accessible by the tram mostly through Laleli market. Hagia Sofia is used to be Eastern Orthodox Cathedral before it had been turned into a mosque by Sultan Mehmet AlFatih and then to a religion museum. It is one of the most prominent examples of Byzantine architecture and Ottoman decoration. You can buy tickets to enter Aya Sofia and have a look to the inside of the mosque. The attention was directed towards the beautification of the building and a large ornamentation from the inside. Justinian the architect used to gather the possibilities of the empire to decorate and decorate the building. Despite the plaster and painting above geometric decorations and Arabic calligraphy, still many of these layers fell and the ancient scenes appeared below it is so worth to visit.
Sultan Ahmet Mosque also known as The Blue Mosque is a very big mosque lies in front of Hagia Sofia Mosque. It is a very big well-known Islamic symbol. They completed to build the mosque in 1616. It has a center of a large courtyard surrounded by six illuminated columns. It is worth it to visit both of the mosques and walk around between them.
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Republic Monument:
One of the most valuable statues for Turkey and the local Turkish people. You can’t pass through Taksim Square without noticing the crowd around it taking some memorial pictures and looking to the smallest details in that statue. It gets its value because it was the first statue built after Turkey’s Independence.
Atatürk and his friends, who wanted to bring a new atmosphere to the state and society, chose Taksim Junction, which has been settled for a long time by the modern section, which is a bit far from the old part of the city to install the Republic Monument. It was built in Italy and brought to Turkey. It took tow and a half year to build. It is important to mention that it has two side representing Turkey’s shifting, the side facing north represents Atatürk in military uniform during the Turkish war of independence, while the other side has Atatürk and his comrades dressed in modern clothing, the former symbolizing his role as military commander-in-chief, and the latter symbolizing his role as statesman.
Turkey in general and Istanbul in specific have a lot to talk about with its rich history and architecture miracles they built back in the day
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Istanbul streets are full of food and deeply interwoven with Turkey’s food culture, while you walk through the street you will notice how many carts are on the side of the street. Each vendor has their own spot and time, some of them work during winter seasons like sahlep vendors, and some work all year like simit vendors, and what is interesting about Istanbul’s street food is that it’s clean, cheap, and everywhere. Here are some of the most famous street food in Istanbul:
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Along with their very fresh air, foliage and fish restaurants lined up on the seaside, the anatolian and rumelian grove, situated at both sides of the bosphorus, stand among places that are highly and frequently preferred by the istanbulers in their spare