Sabiha Gokcen Airport ( Sabiha Gökçen Havaalanı in Turkish) is secondly built airport of Istanbul. It was built because the Ataturk International Airport (on the European side) was not large enough to meet the increasing passenger demands (both domestic and international). Its name “Sabiha Gökçen” comes from the first female combat pilot of the world. Its whole name is Sabiha Gokcen International Airport and IATA code for Sabiha Gokcen International Airport is SAW. It is located at Pendik/Kurtkoy of the Asian (Anatolian) side of Istanbul. Sabiha Gokcen Airport is, 40 km away from Kadıkoy, 12 km away from Pendik, and 50 km away from Taksim. Read more »
Visiting a Mosque in Istanbul
September 11th, 2009 
admin Istanbul has many historical mosques. Some of them are magnificent and some are tiny ones. I think they all deserve to be visited. It is clear if you have a short time to spend in Istanbul, you are going to prefer to visit the well known mosques.
I would like to say a few words about mosque visiting due to my and friends’ experiences. Firstly, all visitors are very welcome for their visit. There are museums and historical places that visitors would enjoy in Istanbul but mosques have some circumstances. Mosques like The Blue Mosque ( Sultanahmet Camii), The New Mosque ( Yeni Camii), Bayezid Camii ( or Beyazıt Camii) are active places of worship. So, the visitors are accepted as guests in these places. Therefore, guests should follow the rules and restrictions to not to disrupt the usual flow. Read more »
The Galata Tower
September 2nd, 2009 admin Hello friends,
Today, I am going to tell about The Galata Tower.
Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi in Turkish) is a stone tower in Galata district of Istanbul. The nine-story tower is 66,90 meters tall and was the tallest structure of the city when built. The tower was built by Genoese in Byzantine Empire time. The tower was built as Christea Turris (Tower of Christ) in 1348 during an expansion of Genoese colony in Costantinople ( an old name of Istanbul).
In Ottoman Empire period, the tower was used for different purposes such as to hold captives, space observations and observation for spotting fires. The Galata tower also destroyed by fire as well as being a place to spot the fires. Galata Tower was restorated several times in Ottoman Empire period. Read more »
Ramadan in Istanbul
August 29th, 2009 admin Hello friends,
About Ramadan
We are in the first week of Ramadan. Ramadan (Ramazan in Turkish) is a holy month for muslims. In these days, muslims fast and have extra deeds to be better muslims and take care of their actions. Fasting is a total abstinence of food and liquids from dawn to sunset during the entire month of Ramadan. Married muslims also have to refrain from intimate relationship from dawn to sunset during this period. Muslims can still enjoy all of these things during the night time, from sunset to dawn. We usually eat a meal right after sunset called “Iftar” and another light meal right before dawn called “Sahur” (Sahoor). The purpose of fasting is to acquire the concept of Taqwa. Taqwa might be defined as self control, self-restraint, self-discipline, self-obedience, self-training, self-consciousness, self-education and self-evaluation. Read more »
Sultanahmet
August 23rd, 2009 admin Hello Istanbul fans,
I would like to write about Sultanahmet since I first launched this web-site and before yesterday I went to Sultanahmet to experience it again. Of course I went to Sultanahmet for many times before but I must have gone again to see, observe and feel before write for you. I am going to start to tell you from Haydarpaşa Train Station. Haydarpaşa Train Station is one of the symbols of Istanbul in Turkish people’s mind. It has been a meaningful place for most new comers due to being a greeting face of Istanbul, as the railways was used more often in the past. Haydarpaşa ( Or Haydarpasha for you) station building is historical and it has a different style of architecture. That is why it was built by Germans in the time of what good relations occured between Sultan Abdulhamid and Wilhelm II. In 1908, it began to service and still is main station of TCDD (State Railways of the Republic of Turkey). Haydarpaşa Station has a great location and is sorrounded by Marmara Sea in its three sides.
