Aya Sofia inside

Fezinating Istanbul

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May 28th 2009
We arrived in Istanbul the way everybody should arrive. On a train. At a station that had a welcome lounge for the Orient Express. And there was a guy with a fez! (although that was the one and only fez-wearing guy we saw in Turkey). You can't help being impressed by Istanbul. Just that name conjures up images of grandeur and mystery, monarchs and assassins, east and west. Its a place o ... read more

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul

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Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa KEMAL, who was later honored with the title Ataturk, or "Father of the Turks." Under his authoritarian leadership, the country adopt... ... read more