Istanbul Hotel
Hotels in Istanbul are often required by tourist who visit the famous Turkish city of Istanbul. Tourists often want a luxury hotel, but some may want a cheap hotel, and some may a large hotel, or small hotel. Some may prefer a hotel with good parking space. Tourists often want hotels with good view and in the good high status areas of the city. Tourists often want a hotel that offers good views of the city, or that is close to the tourist or historic regions of the city or the areas with good views.
Istanbul (historically Byzantium, and Constantinople) is the largest city of Turkey and the third largest city in the world. The city covers 27 districts of the Istanbul province. It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbor known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) side of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world which is situated on two continents. In its long history, Istanbul served as the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–395), the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922).
The location of Byzantium attracted Constantine I in 324 after a prophetic dream was said to have identified the location of the city; but the true reason behind this prophecy was probably Constantine's final victory over Licinius at the Battle of Chrysopolis (Üsküdar) on the Bosphorus, on 18 September, 324, which ended the civil war between the Roman Co-Emperors, and brought an end to the final vestiges of the Tetrarchy system, during which Nicomedia (present-day I.zmit, 100 km east of Istanbul) was the most senior Roman capital city. Byzantium (now renamed as Nova Roma which eventually became Constantinopolis, i.e. "The City of Constantine") was officially proclaimed the new capital of the Roman Empire six years later, in 330. Following the death of Theodosius I in 395 and the permanent partition of the Roman Empire between his two sons, Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. As well as being the centre of an imperial dynasty, the unique position of Constantinople at the centre of two continents made the city a magnet for international commerce, culture and diplomacy. The Byzantine Empire was distinctly Greek in culture and became the centre of Greek Orthodox Christianity, while its capital was adorned with many magnificent churches, including the Hagia Sophia, once the world's largest cathedral. The seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople, spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, still remains in the Fener (Greek: Phanar) district of Istanbul.
In
1204, the Fourth Crusade was launched to capture Jerusalem, but had instead turned
on Constantinople, which was sacked and desecrated. The city subsequently became
the centre of the Catholic Latin Empire, created by the crusaders to replace the
Orthodox Byzantine Empire, which was divided into a number of splinter states,
of which the Empire of Nicaea was to recapture Constantinople in 1261 under the
command of Michael VIII Palaeologus.
In the last decades of the Byzantine Empire, the city had decayed as the Byzantine state became increasingly isolated and financially bankrupt, its population had dwindled to some thirty or forty thousand people whilst large sections remained uninhabited. Due to the ever increasing inward turn the Byzantines took, many facets of their surrounding empire were now falling apart, leaving them vulnerable to attack. Ottoman Turks began a strategy by which they took selected towns and smaller cities over time, enveloping Bursa in 1326, Nicomedia in 1337, Gallipoli in 1354, and finally Adrianople in 1362. This essentially cut off Constantinople from its main supply routes, strangling it slowly.
On
29 May 1453, Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror captured Constantinople after a 53
day siege (during which the last Roman/Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, died
near the Porta Aurea while defending the city) and proclaimed that Constantinople
was now the new capital of the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Mehmed's first duty was
to rejuvenate the city economically, creating the Grand Bazaar and inviting the
fleeing Orthodox and Catholic inhabitants to return. Captured prisoners were freed
to settle in the city whilst provincial governors in Rumelia and Anatolia were
ordered to send four thousand families to settle in the city, whether Muslim,
Christian or Jew, to form a unique cosmopolitan society. The Sultan also endowed
the city with various architectural monuments, including the Topkap? Palace and
the Eyüp Sultan Mosque. Religious foundations were established to fund the
construction of grand imperial mosques (such as the Fatih Mosque which was built
on the spot where the Church of the Holy Apostles once stood), adjoined by their
associated schools, hospitals and public baths. Suleiman the Magnificent's reign
of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 was a period of great artistic and architectural
achievements. The famous architect Sinan designed many mosques and other grand
buildings in the city, while Ottoman arts of ceramics and calligraphy also flourished.
When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the capital was moved from Istanbul to Ankara.
The city has many major tourist attractions both in terms of sport, culturte, history views, and historical.
Some tall towers in the city includeor have included ; Beyazt Tower, Diamond of Istanbul, Dolmabahçe Clock Tower, Endem TV Tower, Etfal Hospital Clock Tower, Galata Tower, Garden Plaza, Isbank Tower 1, Kanyon Shopping Mall, Istanbul, Nusretiye Clock Tower, Sabanci Center, SantralIstanbul, Sapphire of Istanbul, Silahtarag(a Power Station, S,is,li Plaza, Soyak Tower, Tasyapi Hotel, Tekstilkent Plaza, Yldz Clock Tower
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