Hagia Sofia

I Heart Istanbul

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August 29th 2011
Istanbul is an awesome city. Probably in my top 3 favorite cities. Maybe even eclipsing my prior favorite, Paris. It has two of my favorite features of any great city - trams and ferries. And a completely wacky mixture of East and West and rich and poor and religious and secular. Coming to Istanbul was an enormous culture shock for me. I suppose it is all relative, but when I came from Jor ... read more

Middle East » Turkey » Marmara » Istanbul » Sultanahmet

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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