Private Tour Guide in Istanbul

In the tours I have conducted for years, we often see tulips very often when we visit mosques. Tourists coming to Istanbul in April also see that everywhere is covered with tulips. Even in April, a huge carpet-sized tulip is planted in Sultanahmet Square. When tourists see these tulips during our tours, they jokingly say that tulips are the flower of Holland. And we laugh together. Although the Turks say that they invented the tulip, tourists from many parts of the world think that the origin of the tulip is Holland. Now I will tell you the real story of the tulip. The flower of the Ottoman Tulip is almond-shaped and the leaves are lance-shaped and the tips are thin and pointed like an awl. T. Baytop stated that it was Şeyhülislam Abu Suud Efendi who obtained the first improved tulip variety and that hundreds of tulip varieties were cultivated over time, but with the end of the Tulip Period (1730), Istanbul, that is, the Ottoman Tulip gradually disappeared. Tulip maintained its popular...

  While the Workers' and Labourers' Day is celebrated on 1 May every year, the Bosphorus hosts the festive passage of bird migration. Tens of thousands of bird species, starting from Africa and travelling a total of 40 thousand kilometres to Europe via Istanbul and the Bosphorus, are found in the Bosphorus skies during this period. The Bosphorus sky is a paradise for many bird species, from raptors to passerines. The birds, which never pass Istanbul and the Bosphorus without drinking its water and eating its food, form a great migratory branch starting from South Africa, growing from various parts of Africa, to Antakya via Israel in the Middle East, and from there to Europe. Flocks of birds have been continuing their festive migration in the Bosphorus skies for millions of years. As a result, the birds of Europe also pass through the Bosphorus. Being a Fish in the Bosphorus The diversity of fish in the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara is frequently mentioned in historical sourc...

It is believed that the 2nd city wall of Marmara was built by Constantine I, the founder of the Eastern Roman Empire, who gave his name to the city, to protect the newly established capital from the danger extending from the Golden Horn to Çemberlitaş and from there to the Sea.  The surviving land walls were built in the 5th century AD during the reign of Emperor Theodosius (408-450). After the fall of Rome in 410 AD, Theodosius began building a massive fortification to prevent the same thing from happening to Constantinople. In the 6th century earthquake of 554, the Land Walls were breached from the Regium Gate [Mevlanakapi] and merged with the Golden Horn Walls, and were restored during the reign of Justinian II (565-570). The 7th century BC walls of Istanbul date back to the time of Byzas, the legendary founder of Byzantium. It is estimated that the first fortifications built were in the same area as the "Sur-u Sultani" that surrounds Topkapı Palace today. MAINTENANCE AND ...