The relics of the country’s three Great Empires are attractive tourists’ sites pulling thousands of visitors on daily basis.
Istanbul is by every means the largest city in Turkey, constituting therefore the country’s economic, cultural and historical heartbeat. Inhabitants say the peculiarity of Istanbul is that it is a transitional city in Eurasia, with its commercial and historical centres lying on the European side and a good proportion of its population living on the Asian side.
With a population of over 14.4 million inhabitants, Istanbul is today said to form the largest urban agglomeration in Europe and the Middle East. Located amid historic land and sea trade routes that connect central Asia with Europe, Istanbul has developed a diversified economy with strong services, trade, tourism and manufacturing sectors. Information Cameroon Tribune garnered in the city shows that its regional economy accounts for well over one quarter of Turkey’s economy and features on the list of ten fastest growing metropolitan areas in the globe. Istanbul is therefore to Turkey what Douala is to Cameroon.
Attractive Tourist Sites
Istanbul hosts some of the legendary historical sites in Turkey like the 532-537 Hagia Sophia, one of the most impressive architectural samples of Buzantium era. Guides around the site said it is a mystical unique example of art where visitors fine motifs and traces of Christianity and Islam. Others include the Imperial Mosque of Sultan Ahmet, one of the greatest masterpieces of the world and the last sample of classical Ottoman architecture, the Topkapi Imperial Palace as well as the Grand Bazaar whose rich collection of precious handmade carpets, jewelry, leather and other souvenirs are leaving no visitor indifferent.
Istanbul is also reputed for being Turkey’s second largest international gateway after Antalya and receives over a quarter of the country’s foreign tourists. It has lodging facilities for people of all walks of life with low and mid-range hotels located mostly in the south while upper standard hotels are mostly located in the financial and entertainment centres north of the Golden Horn.
As one would expect from a city of this magnitude, Cameroon Tribune was told that Istanbul has a diverse industrial economy, producing commodities as varied as olive oil, tobacco, transport vehicles and electronics. It is even said that most of the products sold in emerging European and Asian markets and produced in Turkey and Istanbul in particular. The city is also said to be the most important export and import gate way into Turkey owing to its well developed transport system of all sorts: Good airports, developed seaport, emerging railway lines with efficient tramway lines and good road transport with double-carriage ways that appear to be a luxury elsewhere are commonplace here. Recreational centres are also aplenty in Istanbul.
