To an outsider, Istanbul may at frist seem like a westren 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 back streets, the bazaars,and the mosques, this past seem very near and real. Are the spectacular mosques are evidence of the city's important role in history of Islam as well.