Istanbul, Turkey

A beautiful card I received from 'Choose a Country RR', one of my favourite RRs on the postcrossing forum. I had had this card in my favourites for a while, I'm so happy to finally have a copy myself!



This card was mailed from Ukraine but it shows a view of Istanbul, Turkey. Istanbul is the largest city of Turkey. According to the address-based birth recording system of the Turkish Statistical Institute, the metropolitan municipality (province) of the city had a population of 13.26 million as of 2010, which is 17.98% of Turkey's population. The last census data from 2000 puts its proper population at 8.8 million. Istanbul is a megacity, as well as the cultural, economic, and financial centre of Turkey. It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbour known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents. Istanbul is a designated alpha world city.

During its long history, Istanbul has served as the capital of the Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). When the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, Ankara, which had previously served as the headquarters of the Turkish national movement during the Turkish War of Independence, was chosen as the new Turkish State's capital. Istanbul was chosen as a joint European Capital of Culture for 2010 and the European Capital of Sports for 2012. Istanbul is currently bidding to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. The historic areas of the city were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.



As I said, this card was mailed from Ukraine. ...with the most amazing stamps! The one on the right is from a set of 6 lighthouse stamps issued in 2010, this one showing the Illichivskyi lighthouse. The train stamp is from a set of 4 stamps from 2010, depicting locomotives. The stamp underneath was issued in 2004 to commemorate the 250 Years of Yelysavethrad. Finally, the small stamp at the bottom is from a set of 4 stamps issued in 2008, depicting Handicrafts.