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From Berlin to Ankara and back to Vienna by train

50K views 608 replies 49 participants last post by  groentje 
#1 ·
After my Interrail tour through Western Europe in spring ( http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1367631&page=5&highlight= ), my passion for long rail journeys brought me to Eastern Europe and Turkey this time.
During my 47 day-travel I visited these places which I will present in chronological order: Berlin (+ day trips to Stralsund, Potsdam and Chorin)-Warsaw-Krakow-Vienna-Deva-Arad-Oradea-Cluj Napoca-Alba Iulia-Sibiu-Brasov-Constanta-Bucharest-Istanbul-Ankara-Istanbul-Sofia-Vienna.

Let´s start with...

Day 1-14: Berlin, Germany (part I)

Berlin - capital of Germany and its largest city with a population of 3.5 million in the city and 4.3 million with suburbs - won´t need a further introduction. As I stayed in Berlin for two weeks and took pictures almost every day, there are so many pics that I will present them in seven parts. Today - part I, mostly Mitte district:













































































 
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#450 ·
Day 39-40: In the train from Bucharest to Istanbul (Southern Romania, Bulgaria and northwestern Turkey)

The train from Bucharest to Istanbul took more than 20 hours, but as I had a sleeping cabin on my own, it was okay and gave me the opportunity to watch and photograph the different landscapes on the way extensively: The steppe landscape of southern Romania, the fascinating mountain formations of Bulgaria, the green, wide forests of Thrace and finally the vast urban landscape formed by the suburbs of the 20 million-megacity Istanbul. After crossing the Turkish border, you can really feel the impressive rise and dynamics of Turkey: Everywhere new modern highways and bridges under construction, everywhere new modern highrises, everywhere new wealthy satellite towns that remind you more of western Europe or the US than of Turkey´s neighbour states in southeastern Europe. Turkey is really rising in a pace that can probably be compared only to East Asia.











The last Romanian station Giurgiu:

 
#462 ·
Day 40-44: Istanbul, Turkey (part I)

The megacity between Europe and Asia is not only the largest and most important city of Turkey, but with a population of 13 million in the city and around 20 million with suburbs the 4th largest city in the world.
Already an important regional center in ancient Greek times as Byzantion, the city became a huge metropolis as emperor Constantine the Great chose to make it the new capital of the Roman empire in early 4th century. As Constantinople, it remained capital of the East Roman or Byzantine empire after the division of the Roman empire in 395 until 1453. In the middle ages, it was by far the largest and most splendid city of the Christian world. Under emperor Justinian I. in the 6th century, Constantinople reached a population of approximately 500,000-700,000 while the largest cities of western Europe were shabby villages with a few thousand inhabitants.
After it was conquered by the Osmans in 1453, the city rose again as the new capital of the Osman empire and again became a world metropolis especially in the 16th and 17th centuries - islamic architecture reached perhaps its highest peak in this time in Constantinople.
After long stagnation, Istanbul started booming again with faster and faster pace in the 20th century, becoming one of the most dynamic cities in the world. Today, Istanbul probably is the most cosmopolitan, open-minded, vivid and highest developed city in the islamic world.











 
#464 ·


Hagia Sophia, 6th century (minarets 15th century), main church of the Byzantine empire and for around 1000 years the largest church of the world, later transformed into a mosque, now museum:







Sultanahmet mosque ("Blue mosque"), early 16th century, probably the most beautiful of the Osman monumental mosques in Istanbul:



 
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