Dolmabahce Palace » Distance: 8 km. Located along the coast of the Bosphorus in Beşiktaş, 300 yards from the Beşiktaş ferry-boat quay, this palace is the grandest imperial Ottoman residence. It was constructed by the Armenian architects Karabet and Nikogos Balyan for Sultan Abdülmecid (1839-61) who, preferring a more modern residence, decided to move out [...]
Turkish cuisine is renowned as one of the world’s best. It is considered to be one of the three main cuisines of the world because of the variety of its recipes, its use of natural ingredients, its flavours and tastes that appeal to all palates and its influence throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and [...]
Didyma was not a city but a sanctuary linked to Miletus by a Sacred Road. Here, was a renowned prophecy temple dedicated to Apollo where crowds of pilgrims came to consult the oracle. Already in the 6C B.C. a former temple was extremely famous. Destroyed by the Persians in 394 B.C., the impressive temple was [...]
The stunning white terraces of Pamukkale and the neighbouring site of Hierapolis are situated inland, close to the town of Denizli. They can be reached from most of the coastal resorts on a one or two day trip but Kuşadası is the closest – approximately 4 hours drive away. Pamukkale literally means ‘cotton castle’ and [...]
Şanlıurfa is located in the southeast of Turkey, at the center of the GAP (Southeastern Anatolia Project), which is a major development project of the country. As it is one of the oldest settlement in Masopotamia, and due to its strategical location close to the water sources and crossroads of trade, Şanlıurfa always has had [...]
LITERATURE Haldun TANER Literature has long been an important component of Turkish cultural life, reflecting the history of the people, their legends, their mysticism, and the political and social changes that affected this land throughout its long history. The oldest literary legacy of the pre-Islamic period are the Orhon inscriptions in northern Mongolia, written in [...]
The Cistern One Thousand and One Columns » Distance: 400 m. The cistern is located to the west of the Hippodrome. It was recently cleaned and connected with a gallery to the side street. Now the cistern, measuring 64 by 56 meters, is an easily accessible, interesting and beautiful site to visit. Binbirdirek was built [...]
The Roman period of Anatolia began with the death of King Attalus III of Pergamon (Bergama) who willed his country to the Romans because he had no direct heir. Anatolia then lived through a period of peace and prosperity, particularly in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The pax Romana proved to be an extraordinary [...]
Beylerbeyi Palace » Distance: 15 km. Situated along the banks of the Asian side of the Bosphorus in the district of Beylerbeyi, this palace complex consists of the main palace building plus five pavilions (Köşk). The architect Sarkis Balyan, the brother ol ilit architects responsible for the Dolmabahçe Palace, built this modern palace for Sultan [...]
OPERA AND BALLET In the period prior to the proclamation of the Republic in Turkey, opera, ballet and the theatre were mostly centred around Istanbul and Izmir. The first showing of opera at the imperial court was by artists trained by Guiseppe Donizetti (1788-1856) from the Italian opera. During the Republic, Ahmet Adnan Saygun, Necil [...]
