Istanbul - City Celebrates National Holiday

5/19/2012 Istanbul was decorated and very clean in preparation of "Commemoration of Ataturk".  This was a very big point of pride for our tour guide.  The full name is "Commemoration of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day". Read more about the celebration here.  May 19 is regarded as the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence. Mustafa Kemal Amaturk was the first President of Turkey and established modern Turkey.  Turkey's flag was on display throughout the city.

A small map to introduce you to our journey.  We sailed from Mykonos north through the Aegean Sea.  Overnight we went through the narrow straight, "The Dardanelles", with Europe on our left and Asia on our right.  We sailed across the Sea of Marmara to the far north eastern corner and the crossroads at Istanbul.

This post covers what we saw after we disembarked and boarded our tour bus for an all inclusive view of this city.  I didn't know what to expect.  We drove along the coast of the Bosphorus Strait. I was on the left side of the bus with views of the city.  We are driving in the European side of the city.  The Bosphorus Strait is one of the world's busiest waterways.

The streets looked very clean and I will continue to be on the lookout for the usual graffiti, but here is has been painted and covered.

 The transit system looked very efficient.  The city supports its more than 13 million inhabitants with a system of buses, funiculars, light metro rail, underground metro, rapid bus transit, trams, suburban trains, ferry boats, sea buses, and a cable car (gondola lift). A "smart ticket" is used, which is an electronic ticket system which uses Akbil buttons or smart RFID cards as tickets.  This paragraph has a lot of links so click to see illustrations.

 The workers are cleaning the streets. Looks like streets are very clean. Notice that the graffiti is also covered.

 A bright yellow line of taxis moving through the city. This photo shows the modern road that goes through the city.  The building in the distance has the flag flying for the holiday.

 Flags are displayed on BJK Inonu Stadium, a football stadium.

 Businesses are on the street level, offices or apartments in the upper levels.

 Check out the car parking.  Most of it is on the side-walk!

This building has a lot going on!!

 Betty Boop is advertising what looks like toilet paper products.

The cafe below has hookah, backgammon, and apple tea.

 A mosque is under renovation. Even the construction site looks tidy.

 The city area is decorated with banners with flags.  Looks quite festive. Is that a McDonald's?

 Wow, this is a US company block.  Pizza Hut, Burger King and a Starbucks!

 Apartments and homes on the hillside.  This is in the area east of Yildiz Park.

This ends the drive along the European side of Turkey for now. We are going to cross the bridge and the side of Istanbul on Asia.