Istanbul guide books, ebooks, Istanbullu, Dictionary of Istanbul by Ali Akpinar

• Mustafa Kemal was was in the Liberation Army as a young officer.

• The incident occurred in April 13, 1909 in Julian calendar but it was called 31 March Incident (31 March , 1325) as the Ottomans used Rumi calendar?

ACCOMMODATION Konaklama The two main areas for tourists to stay in İstanbul are Sultan Ahmet, the Old City, and Taksim, the New City. Before giving details about these two main touristic areas, let me explain why I distinguished between “old & new city”.

Sultan Ahmet, as we called today, had always been the center of the empire both during the Roman and Ottoman periods until the bureaucracy and economy were moved to the other side of the Golden Horn in the 19th century, where foreign banks, consulates, restaurants, cafes opened and therefore this part of the city became more cosmopolit and international in terms of life style. It is still possible today to see this difference between the two areas.

Staying in Sultan Ahmet is a great experience if you wish to take in the history of Istanbul, one of the most important historical cities in the world and feel the history wandering around surrounded by palaces, mosques, churches and the Grand Bazaar.

Taksim, on the other hand, is a great place if you wish to enjoy busy and cultural side of the city with movie theatres, bookshops, restaurants, cafes, bars, nightclubs, which is alive late at night.

Whichever you choose, the distance between two areas is quite short to take a nice walk through the Galata Bridge to enjoy the historical and modern face of the city.

Staying on the Asian side, in Kadikoy or Uskudar, is another option if you think the European side is too busy for you. You can still commute easily to the European side from the Asian side by ferries and boats from Kadikoy and Uskudar.

Staying in Uskudar, a very central part of the city could be good for spending much time along the Bosphorus in addition to the European side, which only takes 10-15 minutes to travel by ferry and boats.

Kadıköy is also good location to travel around in the city, to the European side, Bagdat Street and even the Princess Islands by seabus.

The ferries, boats dolmuş (shuttle) run late at night (shuttles from Taksim to the Asian side until the morning).

Some people especially prefer to stay on the Asian side because the Asian side is not as touristic as the European side and this could be a good chance to practice Turkish if you are learning Turkish or improve your Turkish while walking around on the streets, at the markets etc.

10 İstanbullu, Dictionary of Istanbulians