A Geography Lesson

I realized while I was talking to my mom on the marvelous free Internet phone service we like to call Skype that I was describing all these places to her (and you, whoever you are that is reading this) through words but had not really given a good image of the lay of the land. So I went onto Google Maps and created and labeled my own set of maps with places of interest to me and you that I have talked about in these blogs. The first image is a broader picture of Turkey so you can locate yourself (all pictures are from Google Maps - click on the picture to see it in full size):


As you can see, Turkey is divided into two sections: Thrace and Anatolia. The bulk of the country is in Anatolia, the Asian side. Istanbul proper is located in Thrace, the European side, though much of the city spreads to the Asian side as well. The Bosporus Straight, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Black Sea, separates the two sides of Istanbul. The Golden Horn, the small river-like inlet that winds its way on the left side of the map, separates the districts of Sultanahmet from Galata. Historically, Galata was the section of the city where the Europeans lived, while the Ottomans with their monuments and palaces inhabited Sultanahmet.

I live with my classmates in Galata, as indicated on the next map. The windy red line indicates the tram which we take us to Sultanahmet across the Galata Bridge. The major mosques and places of interest are indicated.

Here is a picture I've put up before taken from our apartment in Galata looking over at Sultanahmet - you should see most of the stuff from the picture labeled.


And finally, a picture of Beyoglu and its subsection Galata with corresponding labels:


The map images are from Google Maps, but I added the labels. Visit www.maps.google.com.