Travel Journals
Evliya Çelebi, the great Ottoman traveller
09 October 2023 Sally
Evliya Çelebi, the great Ottoman traveller and diarist, was born in Istanbul in 1611 into a prominent artisan family with connections to the Imperial household; his father was Goldsmith to the Sultan. This position gave...
Read MoreŞanliurfa – A Portal In Time
02 September 2023 Sally
Located in south-eastern Turkey and in the northern arc of the Fertile Crescent, Şanlıurfa (or Urfa, as the locals call it) is a city with a truly ancient pedigree; it is a Portal In Time....
Read MoreKarahan Tepe Revisited
29 June 2023 Sally
Karahan Tepe is one of the Pre Pottery Neolithic Sites emerging in what is known as the Taş Tepeler Region of Southeast Turkey in the Province of Şanlıurfa. Taş Tepeler simply means stone hills and...
Read MoreSacred Citadel
07 June 2023 Sally
Urartu was an indigenous Kingdom occupying the area of what is now Eastern Anatolia, the Republic of Armenia, North Western Iran and Northern Iraq in the first part of the first millennium BC. Renowned as...
Read MoreThe City of the Blind
02 April 2023 Sally
The Golden Horn, the main artery of ancient Byzantium and now modern Istanbul, is a perfect harbour. One of the Great Harbours of the World. When the founders of Byzantium colonists from the Greek City...
Read MoreThe Mountain of Pain
12 March 2023 Sally
Ararat is the highest peak in the Eastern Anatolian Highlands. It is 5,137 metres in elevation and rises 3,512 metres above Doğubeyazıt ; it is a Stratovolcano dominating the highland plain around it. It might...
Read MoreAre you happy?
24 February 2023 Sally
Are you happy? It’s a question we are often asked. In the United States they actually have a Constitutional right, if not to actually have it, at least to “pursue” it. They seem to think...
Read MoreFrom Ale to Eternity
17 February 2023 Sally
Whoever thought that Ale - or "liquid bread" - would come about because of something called Wandering Wheat? But it is true! Wild wheat (or grasses) still grow in southeast Anatolia. Although supplanted by large...
Read MoreHow bread came to mankind: It’s a long story but…….
06 February 2023 Sally
There are parts of the world where the mystical and sacred intersect with the mundane and profane, which gently exhale a sacred breath and while they attract veneration and respect from different peoples and cultures...
Read MoreDiyarbakir
24 January 2023 Sally
“A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum.” Diyarbakir doesn’t really feature on the itinerary for most tourists but if you want see a Roman Forum pretty much intact, bustling and open for...
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