"Backgrounder: Istanbul, city of two continents
www.chinaview.cn 2008-04-03 08:36:05
ISTANBUL, April 2 (Xinhua) -- A chartered plane carrying the Beijing Olympic flame arrived Wednesday night in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul, the second stop of the global torch relay.
Istanbul, also the cultural and financial hub of Turkey, is the only city in the world bridging two continents of Europe and Asia. The city is located in the northwest Marmara Region of Turkey. It encloses the southern Bosphorus which places the city on two continents -- the western portion of Istanbul is in Europe, while the eastern portion is in Asia. The city boundaries cover a surface area of 1,539 square kilometers, while the metropolitan region, or the Province of Istanbul, covers 6,220 square kilometers."
More:Backgrounder: Istanbul, city of two continents_English_Xinhua
