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Istanbul - where East meets West. I spent a long weekend looking around this historic city - and I didn't buy a carpet! I was lucky to stay in Sultanahmet area (the centre of the old city), in the Hotel Poem.
I'd rate Istanbul as one of my top three cities that I've visited - the Blue Mosque is an amazing building - a huge space, so light, and held up with four massive columns. Opposite this is the Aya Sophia which during its life has been a church, and a mosque and is now a museum! It's rather darker than the Blue Mosque, but no less impressive - some of the mosaics are stunning!
Another site well worth viewing is the Sunken Cistern, an ancient water storage system that you can now wander around - keep your eyes open, and you might see the odd fish swimming past!
Visit Istanbul, and do it soon!
I re-visited Istanbul on my way back from Syria, and arrived at Haydarpasa Station on the Asian side at night, I then took the ferry across the Bosphorus to the Sirkeci station on the European side.
The view from the ferry was spectacular with the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia being lit up by floodlight - words fail me when I try to describe that view.
Istanbul is still in my top three cities of the world.
I visited Istanbul again on my way back from China and it's still a great city to visit!
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