Troy. The ancient city of legends. Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman to ever live. The Trojan Horse. Achilles. Hector. Immortalized by Homer in the Iliad. Troy.
Cappadocia – Goreme – Fairy Chimneys and Rock Cut Churches
In Central Anatolia lies a land that looks like it comes from The Lord of the Rings- Cappadocia. Even the name has the ring of a fairy tale Kingdom.
Ephesus Efes – Classical Mediterranean City – Swelled with Tourists
People have been living cities in this area for about 8000 years. At about 1050 BC, it was a port city for the Greeks called Apasas. In about 300 BC, one of Alexander the Great’s generals changed it to Ephesus. For the Roman’s it was the capital city of the state of Asia. It was founded as a city dedicated to the Goddess Artemis who represented hunting and the moon. The Romans called her Diana. Ephesus stopped being a port city when the sea receded about 600 AD. The city was also controlled by the Persians during its long history.
The Istanbul Archeology Museum and the Basilica Cistern
Hanane and I decided to head back to Sultanahmet to see some of Istanbul and Turkey’s ancient history. Our first stop was the Istanbul Archaeology Museum which is located near the Topkapi Palace inside Gulhane Park. The museum has more than a million objects in its collections many of them from Byzantine, Greek, Roman, and even earlier civilizations.
The Hippodrome of Istanbul and Turkish Sim Cards
What I saw as a nice rectangular park with some old monuments in it was actually a Byzantine race track which used to have two levels of seats on the outside and where chariot races used to excite the crowds for more than 1200 years. The chariot teams were really political parties called ‘Greens’ and ‘Blues’ and so it was part politics and part sport for the Byzantine Emperors and chariot fans.
The Blue Mosque of Sultan Ahmet
The Sultan Ahmet region is named for Sultan Ahmet I who ruled from 1603 to 1617 AD. The Sultan Ahmet Mosque, known as the Blue Mosque was built near the Aya Sophia to provide a greater wonder than that of the Hagia Sophia. It was commissioned by the Sultan and designed by Mehmet Aga and [...]
