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©TIE
2004-2008
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Divan
Yolu, the "Road to the
Imperial Council," was
once the imperial road from
Constantinople to Rome.
When
it was laid out by Constantine
the Great in the early 300s AD,
it was the Mese, the main
boulevard leading from the city center
on Seraglio Point to the Golden
Gate in the city
walls, where it met the road
to Rome.
The
beginning-point of the Mese was marked
by a tall marble shaft called the Milion which
still stands at the northeastern
end of Sultanahmet
Square in the little park above
the Sunken
Palace Cistern (Yerebatan
Saray Sarniçi).
It
takes its Turkish name from Ottoman times,
when it was the "Road to the
Imperial Council" (Divan).
It's
now the main avenue through historic Old
Istanbul, starting at Sultanahmet
Square and the Hippodrome and
heading westward to Beyazit
Square and the Grand
Bazaar.
Under
different names the road continues
out to the city walls, through a
gate, and on toward Rome,
a thousand miles (1600 km) away.
For
visitors, Divan Yolu (dee-VAHN
yoh-loo) is their main street from Sultanahmet and
the Hippodrome past
shops and restaurants, past Ottoman sultans'
tombs, mosques and medreses (theological
schools), past Byzantine forums
and monuments such as Çemberlitas (the
Burnt Column) to Beyazit
Square, the Grand
Bazaar and Istanbul University.
A
half-hour's stroll along Divan
Yolu from Sultanahmet
Square to Beyazit
Square is an enjoyable Istanbul history
lesson—and you end up at the Grand
Bazaar!
The Zeytinburnu-Kabatas
tram goes
along Divan Yolu carrying
visitors between the ferry dock at
Kabatas,
through Karaköy,
across the Galata
Bridge, through Sultanahmet and
its Hippodrome,
to the Grand
Bazaar, then onward to Zeytinburnu,
where there's a connection to Istanbul's Metro to
take you to Atatürk
Airport and the Otogar (main bus terminal).
Sultanahmet
Hippodrome
Çemberlitas
Beyazit
Grand
Bazaar
Istanbul
Sights
Istanbul
Hotels
Istanbul
Restaurants
Istanbul
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Above, Divan
Yolu passes the grand
tombs of several
sultans, including Sultan
Abdülhamid II.
Below, the Milion,
or initial mile-marker, of the Byzantine Mese,
today's Divan Yolu.
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