Turkey Traveller

The Galata Tower is one of Istanbul’s most famous landmarks, it dominates the landscape around Beyoğlu and the 10 Turkish lira entrance fee is well worth it as it offers breathtaking panoramic views of Istanbul. The Galata Tower is a nine storey building that is 66.9 meters tall and has walls that are 3.75 meters thick; there are two elevators that run to the top floor which contains a rather pricey restaurant. Once at the top you have to spend some time on the observation deck that runs around the tower. For the more adventurous it’s well worth walking back down the narrow stone stairs which snake their way around the building and offer some interesting peephole views both inside of and outside of the tower. History The Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 when this part of Istanbul was still a Genoese trading colony. Originally it was called The Tower of Christ (Christea Turris) and was part of the fortifications protecting the Genoese citadel. The tower has had many uses ov...

One of Istanbul’s top attractions the Hagia Sophia known as Ayasofya in Turkish, originally built to be the greatest church in all of Christendom on the orders of Emperor Justinian in 532 AD. It served as the largest cathedral in the world for over nine hundred years and is considered to be the finest surviving example of Byzantium architecture. The Hagia Sophia literally meaning “Holy Wisdom” remained as a church and the center of the eastern orthodox religion until 1453, when the city was invaded and conquered by Ottoman Turks. The building was then converted to a mosque at the behest of Sultan Memed ll. A lot of the Christian symbols and artefacts were removed or covered up. Bells, relics and alters were removed whilst mosaics where plastered over or stolen. The addition of minarets and a mimbar (Islamic pulpit) completed the conversion of the building into a mosque. The Hagia Sophia continued to be used as a mosque until 1935 when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk controversially ordered it ...

Istanbul without a doubt my most favourite city in the world, located in north western Turkey split in half by the Bosphorus, the straits that separate Europe from Asia. Not only is it the only City in the world to be situated in two continents simultaneously, but it is also one of the largest cities in Europe. The sheer scale of the city is at first intimidating and later impossible not to fall in love with, hence the reason I return every year. For most visitors your first glimpse of the city will be as your plane comes in over the Sea of Marmara, complete with seemingly motionless boats, once you sight land you notice the glittering minarets and tightly packed high rise blocks before touch down at the thoroughly modern Atatürk Airport. Once you venture out into the city you will be immediately struck by the hustle and bustle of life in Istanbul, the packed streets and noisy roads as twelve and a half million people go around their daily business. Istanbul is not known as the “Cit...

İnönü is a small township in Eskişehir Province, it was also the location of the İnönü headquarters building an important strategic centre in the two battles of İnönü, part of the Turkish War of independence. Recently the old Ottoman style İnönü headquarters building has been restored and turned into a war museum, so knowing this my wife and I decided to go and have a look one winter’s day. Arriving in İnönü it was easy to find İnönü, is small and the locals were friendly enough to give us directions, typically upon arrival at the museum we found it locked. It crossed my mind that it may have closed for lunch, so again we asked some locals who told us that it’s always locked and you have to get the key from the post office. The post master looked absolutely baffled “you want the key for the museum? You do realise this is the post office?” After a few more locals were pulled into the confusion a debate ensued and after some time it was agreed we should go to the municipal building, ano...

The Side(SEE-deh)peninsular is only about 1km long and 400m across but it’s packed full of interesting places to visit and flanked on either side by beautiful sandy beaches and the warm waters of the Mediterranean. On the peninsular you will find an interesting mix of old and new with modern nightclubs situated within the ruins of the ancient Side settlement. Side (meaning pomegranate) is a highly successful resort town and it’s not hard to see why its perfect white sand beaches attract both international and domestic tourists. Around the pedestrianised peninsular there is a good selection of eateries, accommodation, bars, shops and lodgings. Side’s true success lies in its universal appeal achieving a little bit of something for everyone and also being suitable for families at the same time. It is easy to lose a few days here just relaxing, meandering around the small backstreets exploring the boutiques, sipping iced cocktails on the beach staring over a glittering Mediterranean vi...

Kaleiçi is the old historic centre of Antalya built around a picturesque old Roman harbour, lined with restaurants & cafes. From the harbour a maze of narrow streets filled with restored Ottoman houses stretch upwards towards the walls of the once fortified old city. Exploring Kaleiçi you find a fantastic selection of boutiques, restaurants, pensions, medreses, hamams, ancient mosques, antiquated churches, Turkish rugs and some beautifully restored Ottoman style boutique hotels.The courtyards and streets are lined with palm fronds and fine fruit trees under which you will often find a man shading from the sun who will polish your shoes for a small price.The winding streets and hidden courtyards of Kaleiçi will quickly have those of a curious nature peeking and peering into private gardens, windows and speculating on the price of doing your own restoration. Kaleiçi is a protected area and was awarded the Golden Apple of Tourism in 1984,you will still see the odd dilapidated Ottoma...

The ruins of Troy (referred to by one writer as the ruins of ruins) are not going to be the most impressive archaeological site you will have the opportunity to see in your time in Turkey. However they will be one of the oldest, and their immortalisation by Homer accounts for a lot of interest. The site is actually much more than just the ruins of Troy (Truia, Truva) in the location are the archaeological remains of 9 cities all layered one on top of the other, this in itself makes it all but impossible to get a proper feeling about how any of these cities would have looked because all the ruins are intermingled with each other. The first excavation of Troy in 1870 was carried out by a German called H. Schlieman, sadly his obsession with discovering the Troy of Homer’s Iliad and the treasures of King Priam were to prove destructive and much of the archaeological evidence on the upper layers was destroyed, lost and looted. However up until this point the Homeric Troy was largely consid...