Pictures of Istanbul, Turkey

You can see here gallery of black and white and color digital pictures taken by Ryszard Lebmor.
Pictures of Istanbul: the Bosphorus, Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Grand Bazaar, Topkapi Palace, the old Sultan-Palace, Istanbul streets.
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Blue Mosque		Bosphorus		Hagia Sophia		Istanbul black and white
Istanbul Grand Bazaar

Photos taken in:
July 2007
Camera:
Digital Camera: Fuji S2 PRO
Lens:
AF Nikkor ED 80-200/2.8
Sigma 10-20/4-5.6 EX DC

Istanbul

Istanbul with its population of more than 10 million is the largest city in Europe. In fact, the city is divided by the 32km (20 mi) long Strait of Bosphorus and a part of Istanbul is already on another continent - in Asia. This unusual geographical location always had a strategic, political and commercial importance. Today, when the world became smaller, and some of these aspects may seem less important, the Bosphorus creates extraordinary communication problem. Every day, people from residential areas of the city in Asian Anatolia commute via the ferries and bridges over the Bosphorus to business and commerce parts of Istanbul, in the European part of the city. In many other aspects Istanbul is a unique city. First of all through its architecture with amazing historical monuments as Hagia Sofia Mosque, Topkapi Palace (The Court), Blue Mosque, Rumeli Fortress (The Fortress of Europe). Unusual in Istanbul is also the intensity of its rich life, which is fascinating to observe on Grand Bazaar, on the streets of Istanbul, in the restaurants, cafés and teahouses.

The past of Istanbul was as rich as the city present life is. Although Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey anymore (since 1923 Ankara is), in the past, after the fall of ancient Rome, Istanbul under the name of Constantinople was the capital of the whole Roman Empire. Then, what was left later of the Eastern Roman Empire transformed itself in powerful new empire - Byzantium. Christian state dominated from Constantinople the South East of Europe, parts of the Middle East and North Africa until 1453, the year, that the Turkish Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople. Again, Constantinople became its capital, but with the changed name - Stambul. The Ottoman Empire ruled the Middle East, North Africa and expanded into the whole of the South Eastern Europe with today's Bulgaria, Greece, all the countries of former Yugoslavia, Hungary and part of Ukraine under its rule. It was until the battle of Vienna in 1683 that The Ottoman Empire was pushing west, to invade the rest of Europe.

Today Istanbul with its good hotels and fascinating scenery is a favorite stop for the tourists from all over the world on the way to Turkish or Greek holiday resorts, in transit to the Middle East or just on a short visit from the Black Sea resorts.

Photographer's Istanbul

Istanbul with its busy street life, oriental markets, its crowd of people descending from many nations active in the streets and its monuments of the glorious past, fabulous mosques and old palaces, reminds us of the Sindbad The Sailor tales - exotic, beautiful, mysterious. The presence of the Mediterranean sky gives this city a special lighting, bright but gentle, smooth, constantly changing.
Photographing Istanbul is a travel to the exotic Orient, which probably does not exist anywhere else, because the political conflicts of the Middle East destroyed it. In Istanbul, we do not realize that Iraq, Syria and Iran are just across the border. The wars of the Middle East seem here very far away.