Despite the fact that this city is not the capital of Turkey, in practice, I realized that Istanbul is the main city of the country.
I started my journey to Istanbul from sightseeing. From the airport I traveled on the subway, which is connected to the ground tram. The first thing struck me is the scale and beauty of two mosques: the blue mosque and the temple of Ayia Sophia.
The mosques are located opposite each other. Before entering the temple, you need to wash and wash the legs of a specially reserved place. Blue mosque is grand and very big inside. On the walls here you will not find icons, only ornaments. It has developed traditionally, there is its own story. In the temples did not depict people, only patterns. The guide told us why it is called "Blue": because everything in it is decorated with exceptional blue faience, which was not used during the structure anywhere else.
I'll tell you about swimming too. Istanbul is located between the two bays of the Black and Marmara Sea. Water in the sea is very dirty, swim in it - the same thing in the swamp. But in Istanbul came up with a way out, building numerous pools by the sea. Entrance to the most prestigious "beach" of this kind with filtered salted water from the marble sea costs $ 50.
There are no problems with food. There are a lot of snack bars and eating for snacks. Everything diverse is sold: baked corn, already sliced pieces of watermelon, shawarma and fried chestnuts. By the way, at the expense of fried chestnuts, they replace nuts and seeds for Istanbuts. These are not at all those chestnuts that we grow with us, Turkish chestnuts - edible, but tasteless, I do not advise try.
There is a lot of other institutions, which are more than any passion, but also the prices in them, respectively, rather than in eateries. I advise you to choose the institutions near the embankment, the view is very beautiful.
Traditional souvenir from Istanbul is chic Turkish carpets.
In one of the "carpets" shops, I bought such, but it was pregnant. For my carpet, the seller wanted to get $ 300, I could buy it in just 50. So, no one has canceled to bargain.