The Marmara Region, taking its name from the inland sea, The Sea of Marmara,
has rich historical and natural resources. The Marmara
region is located at a highly strategic area, where the Bosphorus and the
Dardanelles straits join the Black Sea to the Mediteranean via the Sea of
Aegean. The historical and natural resources of the Marmara include the
magnificent city of Istanbul, the green city of Bursa, Manyas Bird Paradise
National Park, Gallipoli National Park and Canakkale (Dardanelles) area, the
city of Edirne (famous with its spectacular Selimiye Mosque) and Uludag Ski
Resorts and National Parks. These are shown in the following "The Marmara
Region Attractions Map". Undoubtedly, the most important of all area
attractions are located in Istanbul. Most visits to Turkey either start or
end in Istanbul, and any trip to Turkey that does not include Istanbul cannot
be considered complete. We start our photographic journey from Istanbul. Our
tour of Marmara Region will also include the Canakkale/Dardanelles area, and
the Gallipoli National Park.
Welcome to Istanbul... where east meets west. This is no ordinary phrase... Istanbul is a unique city where the east meets west literally as well as figuratively. Istanbul is the one and only city in the world to be built on two continents, on both sides of the spectacular Bhosphorus strait which are linked to each other by the Bosphorus (shown below) and the Fatih bridges. A sunset at the Bosphorus is a view that should not be missed.
It is not for nothing that 12 million people call Istanbul home today.
Istanbul has something to offer to everyone. It is the home of numerous
palaces, castles, museums, theaters, concert halls, bars, restaurants and
shopping malls with a wide variety of specialty shops. Also a must to see are
the world famous night clubs and discoteques with state-of-the-art high-tech
light and sound systems. For those of you who have the extra cash and luck,
Istanbul offers over 20 full-service Casinos, mostly located in the luxury
hotels of the city, such as The Bosphorus, Ciragan Palace Kempinski, Conrad,
Istanbul Hilton, The Marmara, Hyatt Regency Istanbul, Intercontinental,
Holiday Inn Istanbul, etc.
Let's take a quick look at some of Istanbul's world famous landmarks...
The Dolmabahce palace, once the home of the Ottoman Sultans in the last couple decades of the Ottoman Empire, is now one of the most visited museums of the city. This immensely impressive and beautiful building, with its 600 yard-long white marble facade overlooking the Bosphorus, became the residence of Sultans upon its completion in 1853, replacing the Topkapi Palace.
Istanbul is known to be the home of the most beautiful mosques and churches. The mosque that is seen at the front is known as the "Blue Mosque" due to its magnificent blue interior decoration. Locals call it The Sultan Ahmet Mosque, after the name of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmet I, who ordered its construction. It was built between 1609 and 1616, and it is the only mosque in Istanbul with 6 minarets. The 20,000 magnificent tiles with rose, tulip, lily and carnation motifs in all shades of blue and green decorate the interior of the mosque. Light floods in through the 260 windows of stained glass.
Part of the old-city skyline of Istanbul is doubtlessly a masterpiece of the greatest of the Ottoman architects, Mimar Sinan. Sinan, the greatest and most prolific of all Ottoman Architects, built an astonishing 81 large mosques, 50 smaller ones, 19 mausoleums, 15 public kitchens, 3 hospitals, 6 aqua ducts, 32 palaces, 22 public baths and 2 bridges. No fewer than 84 of his buildings remain standing in Istanbul. His achievement is more than remarkable when considering that he built his first mosque at the age of 50, and completed his greatest master piece, The Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, at the age of 85.
The further away scarletish building from the Blue Mosque is the Aya Sofya Museum, or better known as the Hagia Sophia Basilica. This extraordinary building, a master piece of the Byzantine architecture was completed in 536 AD as a church. The doom of the Ayasofya is known to be the widest in diameter of all doomes in the world. It is now used as a museum.
One of the most famous palaces of all is The Topkapi. This vast palace was the residence of the Ottoman Sultans from the 15 th century to the 19th century. If you have time to see only one thing in Istanbul, that should be the The Topkapi. It is now a museum (since 1924), displaying a breattaking collection of porcelain, jewels, calligraphy, weapons and many other valuable belongings of the Ottoman Court. The most celebrated exhibits that are definitely-must-to-see include The Harem (what it is should require no further explanation), the treasury of the Ottoman , including The Spoonmaker's Diamond (one of the largest diamonds in the world), The Topkapi Dragger, The Three Colossal Emeralds, and the jewel-encrusted throne of the Sultan.
You should reserve an entire day for The Topkapi Palace, breaking for lunch at the excellent restaurant in the farthest court with a stunning view of the Bosphorus.
Istanbul is also home of some of the most prestigous universities of the nation, such as Bogazici University, Istanbul Technical University (1773), Yildiz Technical University, Koc University, University of Marmara, and University of Istanbul. University of Istanbul founded by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II in 1453, is one of the oldest universities of the world. University of Istanbul has over 60,000 students. The following picture shows the spectacular entrance to its main campus.
Apart from its historical landmarks, Istanbul is a shopper's paradise. Akmerkez Shopping Center is one of the newest and biggest shopping malls in Istanbul with hundreds of specialty shops as well as restaurants, department stores, and entertainment centers such as movie theatres, bowling alleys, etc.
Istanbul has over 50 luxurious hotels, as well as hundreds of regular mid-price hotels. Most of these hotels are in the downtown (old city) area. The hotel shown below , Swiss Hotel The Bosphorus, is located between Besiktas and Taksim, and needless to say it has a magnificent view of the Dolmabahce Palace and the Bosphorus.
Parts of the coastline of the Bosphorus is where the beautiful "Yali"s are located. Literally meaning "by the shore", yalis are immense buildings where the early rich families of the Ottoman Istanbul had lived. Today, most of them are still homes of famous business people's and celebraties, and some of them are museums. All of them, however, are registered as national historic sites, and their existance forever is protected by law. By the way, if you think it would be great to live in one of them, you bank account balance should show six, or even seven digit-numbers in US currency !!!
Very few public transportation systems in the world (if any at all) are among major tourist attractions of a city. Fortunately, Istanbul is one of them (if not the only one). No, I wouldn't recommend you to tour the city with public bus system, however, I would strongly recommend you to experience The Istanbul Ferry Fystem. Istanbul has an excellent ferry system, and (litereally) millions of people use it everyday to avoid the rush hour traffic on major interstates of the city. But for a visitor of Istanbul, the ferry system may have a whole different meaning. Everyday, many ferries cruise around the Bosphorus, and you should be in one of them in order to appreciate the magnificent and truly romantic Istanbul skyline.
Other than the ferry, I wouldn't really even try other public transportation systems of Istanbul, such as the bus, the train, or the rapid rail, since they could be quite crowded and hectic, especially during the rush hours. Yet, thereis one more I would like to suggest: If you happen to visit the Asian side of the city, try The Istanbul Seabus System. These remarkably fast and comfortable seabuses operate on longer routes along the Bosphorus, mainly between the European and the Asian sides of the city. No standing passenger is allowed, so you can comfortably enjoy the ride by watching the on-deck satellite-TV on the upper deck, or listenning to the on-deck music service on the lower deck. Neat huh?
The necklace of the Bosphorus, The Bhosphorus Bridge, was built in opened in 1974 to help the city's traffic problems. Twenty some years after, the Bosphorus bridge was no longer able to lift the traffic load of the city. The second necklace, The Fatih Bridge, was then built, and opened in 1987.
Probably one of the most beatiful buildings of the city on the Asian side, is by no doubt the historic Haydarpasa Train Station. All trains bound to mainland Turkey leaves from Haydarpasa in Kadikoy district.
The long slender body of water that separates Europe from Asia has seen thousands of years of history, has nurtured many well known legends, and has been the home of ancient mythology. This is the Canakkale Bogazi - The Dardanelles Strait- lined within the bays and beaches of the Gelibolu (The Gallipoli) Peninsula on the European side, and the Biga Peninsula on the Asian side. This is where one of the most deadly campaigns of the World War I took place in 1915, when the Turkish Army, led by the commander Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) protected the straits from the allied powers of Britain and Russia.
Half a million soldiers are estimated to have lost their lives in the Gallipoli campaign, among whom the ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) casualties were the highest. To honor those 500,000 soldiers who have lost their lives at Gelibolu (Gallipoli), this peninsula is now a national park of remembrance. There are number of memorials and museums along the peninsula, the most notable of which is the Canakkale Memorial, also known as The Victory Beach Memorial.
One of the most important memorials of the region is the Anzac Memorial, at the Anzac Cove (both named in the honor of Anzac soldiers). The following is engraved on this memorial:
M. KEMAL ATATURK, 1934
The Gallipoli Campaign was not the first war that the region has seen. Probably, one of the most well-known of those is Trojan War. Immortalized by Homer in his famous Iliad, is the city of Troy (Truva), 32 km from Canakkale. The Iliad tells the stories of King Priam, Hector, Paris, and the beautiful Helen who were from this city. Archeological excavations have revealed 9 cities and various ruins of city walls, house foundations, a temple and a theatre. A full size replica of The Wooden Horse of Troy is open to public daily (you didn't expect to see the original wooden horse that dates back to second millenium, BC ...did you???).
The Manyas Bird Sanctuary (The Manyas Bird Paradise) is one of the most beatiful national parks of Turkey. Literally thousands of birds are displayed here all in their natural environment. What makes Manyas Bird Paradise different from all other bird sanctuaries in the world, is that the birds are not confined into cages, and they are absolutely free to go wherever they want to go. But, hey.. who would want to leave a place like that. If you happen to visit southern Marmara region, don't forget to say "Hi" to birds of Manyas National Park and Bird Paradise.
This completes are tour of the Marmara Region. Be assured that more will be added to this page in the future, so make sure to stop by in the near future. Our photographic journey continues to the other regions of Turkey; The Aegean Region, the Mediteranean Region, The Central Anatolian Region, The Eastern Turkey, and The Black Sea Region.
The Aegean Region 
The Mediteranean Region 
The Central Anatolian Region 
The Black Sea Region 
The Eastern Turkey 
WANTED: Your comments...
Well, no service is free!!! Your comments, however, will
pay for every effort that made this page possible.
I will appreciate any comments and/or questions. 
ROBI POLIKAR CYBERDOMAIN ROOT PAGE 
Some of the information and pictures on this page are taken from the following
sources:
Diana Darke, Fodor's Exploring Turkey, Fodor's, New York, NY, 1995
Hans Hofer, Turkey, APA-Houghton Miffilin Company, Boston , MA, 1994
Fascinating Istanbul, Tourist Guide, Republic Of Turkey, Ministry of Tourism,
Istanbul, 1991