Beauty and Peace, as fragile as glass, shattered. Istanbul and now Brussels: innocent buried, candles lit, praying for Harmony

Resplendently attired cherry juice vendors demonstrate pouring techniques.

Istanbul's Blue Mosque overlook the Sea of Marmara.

Ferries cross the Bosporus, the water body between European and Asian sides of Istanbul.

A police officer secures the area after an explosion near the Ottoman-era Sultanahmet Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque.

People light candles in Brussels on Tuesday.

floral carpet on the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium

Congress Column at Christmas and Statue Of Leopold

Brussels

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Istanbul bridges cultures and philosophies of Europe and Asia. “If one had but a single glance to give the world, one should gaze on Constantinople,” marveled Alphonse de Lamartine, the 19th-century French writer and politician. Sixteen centuries as the legendary capital of the Byzantine, Roman, and Ottoman Empires, Istanbul has long entranced the civilized world. The sole city to span two continents, it physically and metaphorically bridges the cultures and philosophies of Europe and Asia, Occident and Orient. It sits at the crossroads of human history, a sprawling 700-square-mile (1,812-square-kilometer) hilly metropolis studded with nearly 20,000 cultural sites from the sixth millennium B.C. to present day.

Istanbul, transcontinental city in Eurasia, historically also known as Constantinople and Byzantium, is the most populous city in Turkey and the country's economic, cultural, and historic center. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosphorus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives on the Asian side. The city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (coterminous with Istanbul Province), both hosting a population of around 14 million residents. Istanbul is one of the world's most populous cities and ranks as world's 6th-largest city proper and the largest European city.
January 12, 2016 Deadly blast rocks central Istanbul tourist hot spot.

23 March 2016 Honor the victims Life is very different now. Machine-gun wielding soldiers guarded subway entrances and searched commuters’ bags and coats before they were allowed to travel as suspects in Tuesday’s bombings remained at large. Many people followed advice to work from home, while thousands have continued to gather in a central Brussels square to honor the victims of the worst terrorist atrocity in Belgium’s history. Ever since the attacks in Paris in November that were traced to plotters in the Belgian capital, many knew a day like this was all too likely.

Congress Column The Congress Column is a monument situated on the Place du Congrès / Congresplein in Brussels. It commemorates the formation of the Belgian state and constitution by the National Congress in 1830-1831. It was erected on the initiative of Charles Rogier after a design by Joseph Poelaert between 1850 and 1859. It was inspired by Trajan's Column in Rome. The column, with the statue of king Leopold I of the Belgians surmounting it included, has a total height of 47 meters. A spiral staircase of 193 stairs in the interior of the column leads to a platform surrounding the pedestal of the statue of King Leopold I.

Belgium sits at the crossroads of Western Europe Belgium (Dutch: België, French: Belgique, German: Belgien) is a low-lying country on the North Sea coast in the Benelux. With the majority of West European capitals within 1,000km or 622 miles of the Belgian capital of Brussels, and as a member of the long-standing international Benelux community, Belgium sits at the crossroads of Western Europe. Its immediate neighbours are France to the southwest, Luxembourg to the southeast, Germany to the east and the Netherlands to the north. Belgium is the heir of several former Medieval powers, previously named Belgae (or Belgica reference to the Roman Empire period), and you will see traces of these everywhere during your trip in this country.

100 Best Things to do in Belgium

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Image courtesy Giovanni Simeone / SIME-4Corners, Sinan Cakmak / Images & Stories, Reuters, WikiTravel, Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP Photo, Bloomberg Business, WikiMedia, touristlink.com, John.Karakatsanis, Wolfgangm, and Flikkesteph @flickr