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About Istanbul
Istanbul a key point in geography, focal point of the interests of International powers, capital of empires, the only city in the world that belongs to two continents Europe and Asia. This unique position makes it the only city established on two continents where one could make an intercontinental trip on bus.
There is of course far more than geography to the magical hold Istanbul has exerted over man's imagination throughout its fabled history. Three separate empires ruled the world from this powerful capital - the Romans, the Byzantines and the Ottomans. Traces of their presence - in ancient walls magnificent mosques, brilliant palaces - shape Istanbul's alluring landscape and color its exotic texture. For more than 3000 years, this city has been a crossroads of cultures, a rendezvous of East and West.
The skyline of Istanbul is shaped and dominated by the domes and minarets of over 400 mosques. They are concentrated in what is called "The Old City" or the Historical Peninsula. The area of the Byzantine capital is still encircled by city walls.
Geographically Istanbul is divided into three, cut by bodies of water, the main divisions into two, as European and Asian, by the Bosphorus. The Golden Horn further divides the European section into two, as The Old and the New Cities. The concepts of old and new are relative to each other only and cannot be related to anything else as the "New City" was settled as long ago 100 BC. Although the city was largely reshaped in the Republican Period, it still carries the main divisional characteristics of Byzantium.
Istanbul - the fusion point of cultures and religions, a proud symbol of the past and the future, the junction of Europe and Asia - has the impetus and the resources to make the participants of International Congresses enjoy a memorable meeting.
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