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To an outsider, Istanbul may at first seem like a Western city. The western dress, the many new buildings, the traffic problems all make the city seem very modern. But there is another side to this great city--its rich past as the capital of the Ottoman Empire. In the narrow backstreets, the bazaars, and the mosques, this past seems very near and real. And the spectacular mosques are evidence of the city's important role in the history of Islam as well.
What is Istanbul has two sides: a Western and historical?