THINGS  YOU  DIDN’t  KNOW  ABOUT  ISTANBUL

The interesting facts about wonderful Istanbul, never end!

We present you a list with some of the most impressive of them:  

1. The only city in the world that spans in two continents, Europe and Asia!
2. Thanks to the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, Istanbul was built on seven hills to match the seven hills of Rome
3. During the Ottoman Empire, the city had over 1,400 public toilets, while in the rest of Europe there were none!
4. Grand Bazaar is the largest covered market in the world, hosting over 4,000 shops
5. Agatha Christie wrote the famous novel ‘’ Murder on the Orient Express’’ at Pera Palas Hotel
6. In 1502, Istanbul was the most crowded city in the world
7. The second oldest subway in the world, is located in Beyoglu area, covers 573 meters and was built in 1875
8. Although Istanbul was the European Cultural Capital City in 2010, has never hosted the Olympic Games
9. Istanbul is the third biggest city in the world,  with a population of over 17 million
10. Istanbul hosts 3,113 mosques
11. In its thousands of years of history, it has been the capital of three great empires: Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman
12. Hagia Sophia, was the largest Chirstian Orthodox Church in the world for hundred of years, attracting over 3,500,000 tourists every year
13. To ensure people will start using ‘Istanbul’ as the new name of the city (1930), the Turkish post office didn’t deliver the mails addressed to ‘Constantinople’
14. There are 237 hamams in Istanbul, but only 60 of them are still in use
15. Istanbul Biennial is the one of the top contemporary art shows in the world, attracting over 350,000 visitors
16. The San Marco Cathedral in Venice, is decorated by four bronze horses. These horses were taken from Istanbul (at that time Constantinople), by the crusaders in the 13th century
17. The last time that the sea of Bosphorus frozed, was in 1954! People were able to cross from one side of the strait to the other, walking on the huge pieces of ice
18. The Maiden’s tower was featured in the James Bond film ‘The World Is Not Enough’
19. The Guinness World Record of most people per square meter, broke in 2014 for the Istanbul Metrobus
20. Blue Mosque is the only Mosque in Istanbul with six minarets
21. Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey, Ankara is. This was proclaimed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923
22. There are 333 cemeteries in the city
23. In 1912, occurred the first traffic accident at Sisli district, when a driver of the Italian Embassy hit a pedestrian and tried to run away from the scene
24. Istanbul was the world’s top travel destination in 2014!
25. ”The land and the rocks of Istanbul, are from gold!” This phrase that been said in 1950, made a large amount of the village population to move to this magical city
26. Over the years, Istanbul was attacked more than 60 times
27. About 36% of exports and 40% of imports in Turkey, pass through Istanbul