Have you ever planned a vacation which could meet the requirements of both novelty and normalness? In other words, have you ever imagined a place where the exotic and the familiar combine so as to trigger unique events that could make you exclaim "wow!"? This place exists indubitably and, if you haven't guessed it already, it is Istanbul. Once you get here, you will realize that you've been traveling and visiting and gazing at and marveling at various tourist attractions in different parts of the world and haven't quite yet met something to equal the here and now fascination with a city which would be so exotic if it weren't for its striking European air. This city has an Asian aura and a welcoming modern air at the same time.



Start planning your visit or longer vacation in Istanbul by first browsing the Istanbul hotel options sited on the Internet. The web page of Hotel Troya, easily accessible at www.hoteltroya.com, will promptly inform you on the housing facilities, costs and advantages it displays. Familiarize yourself with the hotel's location in Istanbul. Istanbul is a cosmopolitan city in the true meaning of the word cosmopolitan and the positioning of Hotel Troya brings you to the very core of the modern, hectic essence of Istanbul. More accurately, this is one Istanbul hotel situated in Taksim, within the region of Beyoglu which is no less than the full of zip, forward-looking, dynamic and lively soul of Istanbul. It is a neighborhood which attracts both businessmen and artists, both employed and unemployed, both tourists and locals towards its bright, smartened up hotels, bars, restaurants and shops of all kinds. Such an Istanbul hotel as Hotel Troya will offer you lodging in the middle of an Istanbul district whose number one tenent is the fashionable, dazzling way of life.

However, the feverish pulse of modern-day activities such as shopping or having a drink in a bar doesn't make up by itself the unique charm of this Istanbul district ? an observation which, clearly, obeys the rule of fundamental Istanbul cosmopolitanism. Therefore, diversity and, along with it, specific Istanbul magnetism are obtained from a number of attractions of historical and artistic value as well. Thus, in the same Taksim, the Ataturk Cultural Center stands up, sheltering the Symphony Orchestra, the State Opera and Ballet, and the State Theatre Company. Additionally, tourists are attracted by galleries offering artistic displays ? everything in a distinctive Istanbul fashion.

The Independence Avenue (or Istiklal Caddesi) is another Istanbul attention-grabbing spectacle. Yes, you have read it right: a street, which begins in the Taksim Square, a street along which the restaurants, the galleries, the hotels we mentioned align and transform it into a spectacle. The Istanbul street of bars and cafes, of banks and samples of the typical, incomparable types of the Istanbul hotel constitutes the city's most well-known place for promenade. It is on these definitely amazing Istanbul street that the lively air of the entire Beyoglu is fabricated. However, the feeling doesn't strike the tourists with the precision of an ultra developed tool, but rather with the meticulousness of ultra sophisticated, peculiar, eccentric Istanbul spices of excitement.

Nevertheless, this is not to say that due to the position of your Istanbul hotel you are to remain within the limits of Taksim. If you have more than a day or two to spend in Istanbul, then feel free to explore the exterior of your Istanbul hotel surroundings. Hop on a tramway car along Istiklal Caddesi and reach Tunel Square. Further away, you can request the services of a taxi. An Istanbul hotel like Hotel Troya will even transmit in directions in Turkish so that the taxi driver carries you to the desired Istanbul destination. However, and this is an information generally available at an Istanbul hotel, a taxi is cheaper during the day and more expensive from twelve o'clock at night until 6 o'clock in the morning.

Certainly, any tourist who has a bit more spare time will exit the Istanbul hotel where he or she is lodged to go on a farther away expedition, not that far away in fact if you only think at the various means of transport always at hand in the city. Therefore, outside your Istanbul hotel room, you may want to explore at least the most important part of the Old City, namely the Sultanahmet district. You will instantly love it and will not regret for a single second the fact that you left your Istanbul hotel's immediate surroundings. If you like museums, you will surely find them in Sultanahmet. Three old Archeological Museums are located here. Moreover, it's in this district that the famous Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace are situated. On the other hand, there are tourists who may want to explore a little the Oriental part of the city. Yet, after having gotten accustomed with the modern lifestyle on your Istanbul hotel street in Taksim, a street like Bagdat Caddesi, although beautiful, will seem less appealing.

Whether in your room in the Istanbul hotel where you are accommodated or whether outside the Istanbul hotel, it may prove one satisfactory curiosity that if during your stay in the city, you get the chance to taste the unique flavor of Turkish coffee or tea or to have a sample of the unforgettable, hot and stimulating experience of the traditional Turkish bath, the hamam. In the end (no matter what you choose to do in Istanbul) its unique flavor will stay with you for a while, hanging on to you like a persistent and showy, yet exquisite perfume.