PHOTOS from Istanbul

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I finally caught up on a photo queue going back about 3 months to late July/early August.  All the photos are on my site, but I'll post some teasers here.

Turkey is the second most popular tourist destination for Israelis (the US is the most popular), and a flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul takes just over 2 hours.  Since it is just a hop, skip, and a jump from here to there, I went to Istanbul for about 4 days in early August.  It is definitely one of the most interesting places I've traveled to.  In terms of its transit, I just stuck to the European side of the city, where there are some very well utilized tram lines, a "light Metro" line, and a more traditional Metro line.  There is also a historic tram in one part of town.  Finally, there are many buses, though I never rode any of them.  For now, I'll just post some bus photos, but I'll post photos of the other modes when I get a chance, hopefully in the next few days:

[WMATAGMOAGH]

I'll put some Tram Line T1 photos in the next part of this thread.  T1 is the busiest tram line, running from Zeytinburnu to Kabata? via the center of the city (on the European side of the Bosphorus).  According to nycsubway.org, ridership on this line is estimated to be almost 200,000 each weekday, and I can attest the line is SRO at nearly all hours (I think I got a seat twice during my entire stay there).  The line has a fleet of 55 low floor Bombardier Flexity Swift trams.  Interestingly, the tram system is not on the honor system like most other European systems.  Each station has turnstiles where one has to instert a token or use his or her akbil, which is Istanbul's equivalent to a smart card system. 

And with that, here we go...




















This was the best of many attempts to get a photo of a tram in front of the Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's best known landmarks:





Coming up in Part 3:  Other Istanbul tram lines, the light metro, metro, and Turkish State Railways

[WMATAGMOAGH]

Here is the next and final installment of teasers from my trip to Istanbul in August.  This post starts off with photos of one of the other tram lines in the city (T2).  T2 is not nearly as busy as T1, has a shorter route (only 9 stops) and operates with high floor trams.  After that are photos of the Light Metro (M1) and Metro (M2).  In the case of both lines, since photography of transit facilities is technically illegal there, I just took a few shots as subtly as I possibly could, and just hoped for the best.  I didn't have problems, but I also didn't want to take too many chances.    The rolling stock on M1 was built by AAB and uses overhead catenary on its mostly above ground route towards Ataturk Airport.  M2 has a mix of rolling stock and had a two extensions open in early 2009 with more in the works.  After that, photos of the Tunel, an undergroudn funicular that has the destinction of being the world's second oldest underground railway, having opened in 1875.  And last, but not least, photos of some Turkish National Railways trains and of Sirkeci Station, the mainline railway station in European Istanbul, the eastern terminus of the European railway network, and the former terminus for the Orient Express. 


Tram T2:




Light Metro:




Metro:





Tünel:




Suburban Railway Line:







Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryollar? (State Railways of the Republic of Turkey):





These are photos of Sirkeci Station, which is the eastern terminus of the European railway network and was at one time the eastern terminus for the Orient Express:














Next up (though it may not be until late next week): Recent bus photos from throughout Israel.

[WMAveteran]

Superb, thank you very much.

[WMATAGMOAGH]

You are very welcome!