Regional Information

West & South West Turkey - Istanbul, Troy, Pergamum & Ephesus

Troia (Troy) - Homer's city of legend.

Located between two continents and at the key point of trade routes, Troy was a sacred centre for thousands of years and of course the focal point of Homer's Iliad and the legendry Trojan war. The Persian King Xerxes visited the city of Priam to commemorate the Trojan heroes and centuries later, Alexander the Great, an admirer of Homer, offered sacrifices and exchanged his weapons with those allegedly belonging to Achilles before his successful campaign to Granikos.

In its 3000 years, nine ancient cities were built on top of each other and in the 3rd millenium BC, Troy II was one of the largest cities of Anatolia. Visitors to Troy get a chance to explore the city walls, the ramped entrance where Schliemann discovered the Priamos Treasure, remains of palaces along with holy grounds and an odeon from the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

Pergamum

Pergamum started as a small fort built to store Alexander's war treasures taken from the Persians. Eventually the city dominated the area and founded a dynasty which, within less than two centuries, became the capital of the Roman province of Asia. Its library was beginning to overshadow the one in Alexandria which attracted the envy of the Egyptian scribes who blocked papyrus exports to Pergamum. As a result a revolutionary invention, parchment - pergamen in Latin - was made and named after the city.

Attractions include the hilltop Acropolis, the steepest and the most impressive amphitheatre in Anatolia, the white marbled Traianeum towering the Acropolis, the remains of the Altar of Zeus, along with other public buildings, aquaducts and temples.

To learn more of ancient medical treatment, a visit to the health centre in the lower city is a must. The Asclepion, named after Asclepios, the healing God of Medicine, treated mental as well as physical ailments and among the celebrities who visited him from far and wide were Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Caracalla.

Ephesus

With its monumental state buildings, temples, marble streets, Roman toilets and decorated private houses, Ephesus tells a wonderful story of life in ancient times.

With a population of 250,000, Ephesus was once one of the most cosmopolitan cities of the ancient world. Perhaps this was the reason why John is believed to have brought Mother Mary to Ephesus after the death of Jesus, in keeping with Jesus' admonition to John to care for his mother.

Equidistant from Hellespont and Lycia, Ephesus was the last stop of the Persian Royal road, an important trade route between the East and the West and the Artemission - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - attracted pilgrims from all over the Greco-Roman world.

South East Turkey - Cappadocia, Mount Nemrud, Gaziantep, Mardin & Diyarbakir

Mardin and surroundings

Mardin is a beautiful ancient town crowned by an impressive castle.

Despite some modern buildings, Mardin still has the feel of an Oriental fairy tale with its labyrinth-like narrow streets and fortified stone mansions, decorated with lace-like carvings. Located high up on the mountain bordering the Mesopotamian plain in the north, the lights of Syrian villages and towns can easily be seen at night.

Starting from the early ages, the Mardin region has been home to the Syriac Christians, who broke away from the Byzantine Orthodoxy at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. The services held at churches and monasteries are still performed in their original Semitic language derived from the ancient Aramaic(the language of Jesus). The monasteries and churches are kept alive and looked after by the Syriac population in the area which has now dwindled to about 2,000 from 40,000 in the 1960s.

One of the most impressive remains of the nearer past is the C15th Medrese of Kasim Padisah. This fabulous mediaeval compound with a cloistered courtyard offers an unforgettable sunset over the Syrian plain.

Sanliurfa

An unusual Turkish city with a strong Middle Eastern Flavour reputed to be the birth place of the Prophet Abraham.

According to folklore - hiding from the soldiers of the Babylonian King Nemrud who was warned by the oracles about the destruction of his throne by a boy born that year - the Prophet Abraham's mother secretly gave birth in a cave.

Returning to Sanliurfa as an adult, Abraham started spreading monotheism calling for worship of the real God rather than idols. Nemrud ordered Abraham to be captured and thrown into the fire from the hill housing the castle. At God's will, the fire turned into a lake and woods into fish. Today the cave and the pond of Abraham attract thousands of pilgrims every year.

Quite different from other Turkish cities, the old town around the pool area has a Middle Eastern flavour with covered bazaars, local men filling up the courtyards of the old inns, and the women wearing colourful outfits from Syria.

One of the oldest settlements in the area is Harran, once an important centre of paganism. The first monumental mosque of Anatolia was built on top of the site of a temple dedicated to the God of Moon 'Sin'. The world famous bee-hive houses of Harran were built in keeping with the climate of the region; staying cool in summer and hot in winter.

Mount Nemrud

Antiochus I supervised the building of his monumental Tümülüs at the top of a mountain 2,100 metres high.

It is thanks to the megalomania of Antiochus I that we now know of Commagene, a small buffer kingdom between the Roman and Persian Empires that existed for only 234 years. Antiochus I supervised the building of his monumental Tümülüs at the top of a mountain 2,100 metres high. The terraces to the eastern and western sides of the Tümülüs have statues of gods and goddesses along with the one of Antiochus himself who claimed to be related to Darius, the Persian King from his father's side and Alexander Great from his mother's.

Another important site in the area is Arsemeia on the Nymphaios, where Antiochus built a summer palace for himself and a tomb-sanctuary for his father.

Northern Turkey - The Black Sea Coast

The verdant Black Sea Coast is home to some of Turkey's most stunning scenery.

The Highlands

The life style of the Black Sea region is shaped by the landscape and the climate. Early May is the traditional opening of the yayla (highland) season, where the locals leave the lowlands both to escape the humid heat and to let the cows enjoy the fresh grass.

Summer villages with the traditional stone and wooden houses stay empty for a good part of the year, some of which now welcome travellers and provide a good base for our escorted walks which are a highlight of the Black Sea Tour. Located above the tree line the highlands are rich in verdant shades of green added to by the diverse colours of the traditional wooden houses, local garments and astonishing diversity of natural flora.

Trabzon - Sumela Monastery (a Greek Orthodox Monastery of the 'Virgin Mary')

Trabzon first became known in the ancient world with 'the retreat of ten thousands'. During the course of history, Trabzon has been integrated into many differing kingdoms and empires but the nature if its people has changed little.

Located on the western edge of the Kackar Mountain range, Trabzon has a history of more than 4000 years. It is like an open air museums with its churches, mosques, old houses and cobble-stoned pavements. The frescoes of the C13th imperial church - revealed in the 1960's - are among the best collections of late Byzantine art.

Perched high up on a cliff rising from a forest valley, the site of Sumela is breathtaking. The monastery was built around a cave church where an icon of Virgin Mary, reportedly painted by St Luke himself, was founded in the C4th. It was already an important one by the C6th, eventually acquiring its current size in the C14th.