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1: During the rush hours masses of busses, minibusses and cabs managing the innerurban passenger shuttle transportation are responsible for the daily traffic chaos in Istanbul.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
2: Parts of the vacant area in front of the restored Theodosian Istanbul citywall are used for vegetable gardening nowadays.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
3: Famous mosaics in the Kariye Mosque (Chora Church Museum) rank as masterpieces of the socalled Paleologic Renaissance (13th and 14th centuries).
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
4: The interior cupola, ceilings and walls of the grave chapel of the Kariye Mosque (Chora Church Museum) are decorated with unique iconographic-like frescoes.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
5: Today, the former Chora Monastery Church (Kariye Camii, 5th/11th centuries), one of the most famous Byzantine historical monuments, is used as a museum.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
6: Beyazit Square between the book bazaar and the university is a meeting point for students as well as a flea market.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
7: Serasker Gate and Beyazit Tower at the northwestern edge of Beyazit Square mark the entrance into the area of Istanbul University.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
8: The enormous complex of Suleymaniye Mosque (Sultan Süleyman Külliyesi, 1550-57) behind Istanbul University consists of the impressive mosque, caravanseray, hospital, poorhouse kitchen, bath, Koran school, a medical and several islamic high school buildings.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
9: Besides graves of eminent Osman personalities you find the tombs of Sultan Suleyman and his wife Roxelane in the cemetery southeast of the Suleymaniye Mosque.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
10: From the hill of the Suleymaniye Mosque you have an impressive view across the Golden Horn bay to the ancient European quarter of Pera (Galata) north of the old city center.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
11: The tombstones of Suleymaniye cemetry give information on gender, social position and occupation of the deceased or how he/she came to death.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
12: The mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent (Süleymaniye Camii) with its impressive interior was built by the famous architect Sinan in 1550-57 as a masterpiece of its kind.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
13: Some of the last few traditional urban frame houses of Istanbul line the old city lanes between the mosques of Sehzade and Suleymaniye. While they disappear more and more here those houses in the quarters around the Sultanahmet Mosque are restored and used as exclusive lodgings for tourists.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
14: For many centuries, the water supply system of Istanbul had worked by ingenious aqueducts and huge subterranean cisterns. The restored Yerebatan cistern opposite the Hagia Sofia church ranks among the most remarkable testimonies of its kind.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
15: Hagia Sofia (Aya Sofya), the church of the Holy Wisdom, had been the center of the eastern Roman Empire for almost 1000 years and the main Mosque of Istanbul during the entire Osman period since 1453. Nowadays, this historical monument which was secularized in 1935 by the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is one of the most visited museums of the World.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
16: Hagia Sofia (Aya Sofya), the church of the Holy Wisdom, had been the center of the eastern Roman Empire for almost 1000 years and the main Mosque of Istanbul during the entire Osman period since 1453. Nowadays, this historical monument which was secularized in 1935 by the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is one of the most visited museums of the World.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
17: Though meanwhile two mighty bridge constructions connect the Asian and the European parts of Istanbul a substantial part of passenger transportation is still carried out by ferry-boats from the piers below the Saray spit, where the Sublime Porte had been located for centuries as the center of Osman power above the Golden Horn within the area of the sultans palace (Topkapi Sarayi) behind the Guns Gate (Topkapi).
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
18: Even if considerable parts of the covered bazaar (great bazaar, kapali çarsi) of Istanbul are used for the usual traditional inner-urban goods turnover the heart of this institution around the bedesten in the meantime has got largely orientated towards touristic articles: souvenirs, gold and silverware, leather articles and carpets.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
19: Even if considerable parts of the covered bazaar (great bazaar, kapali çarsi) of Istanbul are used for the usual traditional inner-urban goods turnover the heart of this institution around the bedesten in the meantime has got largely orientated towards touristic articles: souvenirs, gold and silverware, leather articles and carpets.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
20: The covered Egyptian bazaar (misr çarsi) near the south bank of the Golden Horn has also changed its supply more and more to cater for the demands of tourism, but up to now it has remained an important address for people being fond of exotic oriental spices and delicacies.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
21: The covered Egyptian bazaar (misr çarsi) near the south bank of the Golden Horn has also changed its supply more and more to cater for the demands of tourism, but up to now it has remained an important address for people being fond of exotic oriental spices and delicacies.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
22: For decades, the ancient Galata Bridge of 1912 had been the embodiment of chaotic traffic conditions, and despite a striking traffic relief by a new bridge built a decade ago it has remained the pulsating traffic artery between the old city (Eminönü) and Karaköy/Galata. Forerunners of this bridge crossing the Golden Horn were constructed in 1845, 1863 and 1877.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
23: The most vigorous impression of the old city parts of Istanbul is given by a view from the Golden Horn southward to the scenery of the pencil-like minarets of innumerable mosques.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
24: The heart of the ancient European quarter of Pera (Galata quarter), which nowadays is in strong need of restoration, is the Galata Tower. Because of its special location 140 m above sea level (with restaurant, café, tavern, night club) this 61 m high and several times reconstructed ancient Genuan watch-tower and later firewatch-tower is one of the famous touristic attractions of Istanbul.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
25: As the busy main axis of Beyoglu (Pera), the West European-style new city parts of Istanbul, the Istiklâl Caddesi (Road of Independence), by now without car traffic, connects Taksim Square and the hill station of the Tünel subway (one of the oldest subways in the world). Some years ago a nostalgic tramway was successfully re-activated as an attraction for passenger transportation.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
26: The Bosphorus (Bogaziçi), the lower course of a river valley sunk below sea level during the Tertiary period, connects the Black Sea as a 31,7 km long and up to 3,3 km wide waterway with the eastern Mediterranean Sea and thus finally with the Atlantic Ocean. Along the banks of this important strait with a height of up to 200 m you can find picturesque residential areas of the European and Asian districts of Istanbul.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
27: The few old urban frame houses located directly on the banks of the Bosphorus are being restored and inhabited step by step by wealthy representatives of the Turkish middle and upper classes. The conservation of the numerous old palaces there is successively carried out by the government.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
28: During the daily morning and evening rush hours thousands of Anatolian commuters from and to Istanbul jam the approach roads and bridges over the Bosphorus with their motor vehicles.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
29: Since 1973 the Atatürk Bridge (Bogaziçi Köprüsü), a suspension bridge with a length of 1560 m, connects the Bithynian Peninsula with Thrace and thus Asia Minor with Europe 64 m above water level.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
30: The monumental three-winged building of Dolmabahçe Palace on the west bank of the Bosphorus was built between 1843 and 1856. For some time, the splendid sultans' palace had been the residence of Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, and today it is still the scene for representative meetings. Atatürk died there in 1938.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
31: During the Osman period the fortification of Rumeli Hisar on the west bank of the Bosphorus 15 km north of the city center of Istanbul controlled the narrow defile of the Bosphorus (660 m) together with the fortress of Anadolu Hisar vis-à-vis on the Anatolian side. Like Yedi Kule at the southwest corner of the Istanbul city wall it had temporarily been used as a state prison.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
32: The most popular nearby recreation and excursion destinations of the Istanbul urban population and the touristic visitors are places like Büyükdere or Sariyer on the north bank of the Bosphorus with their restful (but also expensive) waterfront inns and fish restaurants.
© Höhfeld [back to picture]
