More than 50 years ago “Istanbul (not Constantinople)” was the very popular song in the Soviet Union. At that time only élite at the top could get permission to travel and to see Turkey or any other country.
After we became Americans we visited more than 50 countries including Turkey.
Istanbul is a wonderful city! It has so much to offer that you need to stay there long time just to get a proper feeling of it. Unfortunately, we had only one week for travel in the country.
However, it is impossible to forget the word Istanbul in America. You can see It all over the country.
ON HOLLYWOOD BROADWALK
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS 
I always liked that song. 🙂 Enjoyed singing along again.
In the morning my wife heard it and became 20 years younger. 😉
I’m coming back to listen 3 more times. 🙂
😉
Great song. I didn’t know it was popular in the former Soviet Union. My husband and I spent part of our honeymoon in Istanbul and loved it.
The USSR was a closed country. When something good came from abroad it often became immensely popular. We loved Yves Montand (“Autumn Leaves” and other songs). Everyone loved movies “Sounds of Music” and “Roman Holidays”. I remember that one day we saw “Twelve Angry Men” in the morning in Saint Petersburg and the same day it was forbidden to show it everywhere (somebody in the government decided that it showed good Americans).
This song brings back memories for me ~ the Muppets use to have a great skit with this song 🙂 One day I would love to see Instanbul and Turkey in all its glory.
That’s exactly it, we were not allowed anywhere, and people like me, especially could not go anywhere because we were also watched since my dad and grandfathers had been to Siberia. But the song and the city are beautiful!
Inese, you are young and, possibly, don’t know that everyone was watched in the USSR. Police knew where all law abiding citizens were at any moment (the system of “police regisration”). In addition, there were innocent people repressed almost in every family. I was allowed once to go to Budapest as a member of a Soviet technical delegation for 5 days. It took 11 months for the government and the party’s people to check all details of my life and lives of all my relatives to decide the matter.