Istanbul and Athens among Europe’s 10 Most Populous Cities
BalkanTravellers.com
Turkey boasts three cities in Europe’s top ten, ranked by population size, according to the Anatolian agency. Besides Istanbul with its 9.9 million inhabitants, the capital Ankara occupies fourth position with a population of 3.4 million and the city of İzmir is in ninth place with 2.4 million people.
The other most populous cities on the continent include: London in second place with a population of 7.4 million; Paris – in third place with a population of 6.4 million, Berlin – in fifth place with a population of 3.4 million, Madrid in sixth place with a population of 3.1 million, Athens – in seventh place with a population of 2.9 million and Rome – in eight place with a population of 2.6 million.
A total of 65 million people live in Europe’s 26 most populous cities, according to the publication.
Read more about Greece and Turkey on BalkanTravellers.com
Use BalkanTravellers.com's tips to organize your trip to Greece and Turkey
Epicure
Turkey
Turkey Boasts World’s Most Ecologically Clean Tea
Among the nearly 30 countries that produce tea in the world, Turkey is the only one producing ecologically clean tea without chemical additives Full Story
Curiosity Chest
Balkans
The Mystic Muslim Sects of the Mevlevi, the Alevi and Alians in Turkey and Bulgaria
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, also known as Mevlana, was a Medieval Persian poet and philosopher and the spiritual founder of the whirling dervishes. He delivered his sermons and wrote his religious poetry in literary Persian, capturing the imagination of the intellectual elite amongst the peoples of Central Asia and Asia Minor.
Full Story
Useful Reads
Turkey
Istanbul: Memories and the City (2003) | By Orhan Pamuk
The book that won Orhan Pamuk the Nobel Prize is a monotonous, according to some, but poetic portrait of Istanbul. Seen through the eyes of one of the most interesting modern Turkish intellectuals, the city of this book is a nostalgic version of the roaring, sparkling and dizzying metropolis straddling two continents.
Full Story
-
Photogalleries
-
A Perfect Shot
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
Annoyances in the Balkans
Balkans
Relentless Homophobia Rages in the Balkans
Be IN-tolerant! Be normal!, appeals a poster (pictured above) that recently flooded the streets of the Bulgarian capital, Sofia.
As the first gay pride parade in Bulgaria is about to take place, amid strong opposition by nationalistic organisations and a large part of society, the high levels of persistent homophobia in the country and the Full Story
Insiders' Advice
If the relentless homophobia is already that bad, what's the attitude in general towards HIV/AIDS, given the rather worrying HIV-prevalence in Eastern Europe and Russia?
Full Story
Is it easy to drive in the Balkans? Depends. If you are looking for adrenalin, this is a cheap way to get it. Expats say the best tactics is not to get annoyed.
Full Story
How to pick the right time to go? Winter is beautiful in the high mountains, the problem is, it can be so cold! Then again, who cares how cold it is - the locals have a cheap cure: heavy red wine. Sometimes warmed up.
Full Story
You can't trust local maps. Nor some international travel guides. One of them, for instance, says, that Neretva River in Bosnia and Herzegovina flows FROM the Adriatic towards the inland of the Balkans, never reaching the sea. OK, how about the Neretva delta and channel in Croatia?
Full Story
The Big Book of Travelling
United States
The Rise of Burlesque in New York: Tassels and the City
Burlesque – the more audacious relative of commedia dell'arte, is in revival. A reality in “upside down style”, this creative, witty and softer version of striptease is back on stage, following an absence of nearly 80 years. In New York, Anjeza Bojku scoped out several burlesqee venues for BalkanTravellers.com. Full Story
Thailand
A Short Guide to the Peculiarities of Thai Food
Travel News
18 November 2008 | Despite the financial crisis, demand for property is increasing in Turkey’s largest city, Istanbul, experts claim.
Full Story
