Turkey Traveller

Gemiler Island also known as the Island of St Nicholas is located on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey between Olu Deniz and Fethiye. The Island is only small approximately 1000m long by 400m wide but that small area is littered with the remains of an historic monastic retreat containing among other things the original resting place of St Nicholas. The Island offers the perfect opportunity to take a break from sunbathing and spend an hour exploring the medieval remains, that for centuries attracted pilgrims from all over Christendom. On the island are the remains of four churches, related religious buildings, Byzantine dwellings, harbour, cistern, stone tombs, graveyard and ceremonial passageway. The views from the top of the Island across the Mediterranean and back inland are also quite stunning and well worth the walk. The Tomb of St Nicholas St Nicholas better known now days as Father Christmas or Santa Claus was the Bishop of Myra, which is just a few miles from from Gemiler Isl...

This is a sponsored post in courtesy of The Pen Company Ottoman calligraphy began its life when the Turks migrated from Central Asia towards Asia Minor coming into contact with Islam along the way, they abandoned the traditional Uyghur text and adopted a hybrid written language based on Persian and Arabic tradition. In Islamic theology the text of the Qur'an is considered sacred as it is the word of Allah himself as revealed to the prophet Muhammed. This combined with the fact that artworks picturing human and animal forms are prohibited, meant that calligraphy as an art form flourished in the Ottoman empire with the most impressive works being undertaken in Istanbul. Istanbul became the capital of the Ottoman state in 1453 after Fatih Mehmet took the city effectively ending the Byzantium empire. Within Istanbul there are many fine examples of Turkish calligraphy one of the most famous being engraved in 1478 over the imperial gate at Topkapi palace by Ali Sofi a calligrapher in t...

Hisaronu is a holiday resort situated between Fethiye and Olu Deniz a few kilometres inland from the beautiful Mediterranean coast. It somewhat resembles a really cheap, tacky English seaside resort that's been uprooted and dumped on Turkey's Turquoise Rivera, expect bars and restaurants with English themes, menus, clientèle, lots of sport bars, tattoo parlours, karaoke, beer bellies, and more people wearing St Georges flags and union jack paraphernalia then I thought possible outside of some kind of surreal patriotic nightmare. Walking down the main street in the evening is not dissimilar to a visit to any British town centre on a Saturday night, there is a party atmosphere, neon lights, locals touting day trips and trying to beckon you into their establishment, bar after bar in which to wile away the evening relaxing to the thumping disco music. All in all for me it represents everything that is bad about mass tourism, and certainly isn't a destination to consider if you...

 More about Eskisehir: Eskisehir Sivrihisar Yazilikaya Platform/Midas City .

I heard yesterday that the beautiful and impressive train station at Haydarpaşa was damaged by fire at the end of last month. The Haydarpasa station is one of the most instantly recognisable landmarks in Istanbul and well loved by travellers, Turks and Istanbulites alike. The last most westerly train station in Asia where you can catch a train that travels the Hejaz Railway which terminates in Medina running via Syria and Jordan before arriving in Saudia Arabia. The Haydarpasa terminal sits on the shoreline built on reclaimed land overlooking the Bosphorus. It is a terrible shame for Istanbul and I hope the Turkish government will make every effort to return this splendid building to it's former glory. The fire started on 28 th of November in the middle of the afternoon, the damage is mostly to the roof and the fourth floor. No people were injured.                       ...

Kayaköy (stone village) A fascinating and eerie ghost town lies in the hills between Olu Deniz and Fethiye hastily abandoned when its Greek population was repatriated in 1923 after the Greco-Turkish war. Since then the town has been left bare to the elements and hundreds of intact but roofless houses sit empty staring across the valley. For 8YTL you can wander the houses, shops, schools, windmills, tavernas and churches of this beautiful and serene place. Entering the houses is weird as you get a feeling of being somewhere you shouldn't be, as if someone had left their front door open and you took it upon yourself to nose around. Even the goats that wander the village chewing on weeds have a tendency to look at you like an unwelcome interloper. The absence of sound is striking and even though we were virtually the only visitors we still spoke in hushed tones. Its like a community in stasis except without the people and its not much of a push of the imagination to picture the narr...