Turkey Travel Destinations

Friday, December 7, 2012

The Dardanelles

The Strait of the Dardanelles, named by the Turks Dardanelles, after the city of Çanakkale, is 61 km/38 miles long and stretches between the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea. Its width varies between 1,2 km/0.75 miles and 6 km/4 miles.
Both a gateway to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea and to the Aegean and Mediteranean Seas, throughout history, the Strait of the Dardanelles, which also controls the crossing between Europe and Asia, has always been a highly strategic area subjected to conquests.
The name Dardanelles derives from Dardanos, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra daughter of the Titan Atlas and Pleione, founder and king of the city of Dardania located in the foothills of Mount Ida on the Asian shore of the strait. From Dardanus' grandson Tros, the people gained the additional name of Trojans and the region gained the additional name Troad. Tros' son Ilus subsequently founded a further city called Ilion (or Ilium) more commonly called Troy and the kingdom was split between Ilium and Dardania.

The Dardanelles

Sumela

The Byzantine Monastery of Sumela is located hinterland in a breathtaking site, hanging on the face of a steep rock 1,200m / 4,000 ft high. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, this sanctuary, where Emperor Alexius Komnenus III was crowned in 1340, is composed of a rock-cut church and a chapel both decorated with frescoes, and conventual buildings, some of them added in the 17th century.

Sumela

Antakya (Hatay)

Seleucos Nikator, who was a general in the army of Alexander the Great, after the death of the latter, was given the control of Phrygia, Commagene and Cilicia where, in 300 BC, he buit a city at a strategic point in the fertile plain of the Orontes River (Asi Nehri). The city probably took the name of Antiochus I who was the son of Seleucos. In the 2C BC, the city was both a business and a leisure center where people lived in exuberant luxury. In 64 BC, the region was taken by Pompey and became a Roman province. Antioch remained an extremely important place. It played a great role in the spread of Christianity, because lots of Jews expelled from Palestine came to catechize the Jewish community of the city (who had come and settled at the time of the Seleucid prosperity , as well as the pagan population. Barnabas, later assisted by Paul, became the leader of this community whose members were called "christians" here for the first time. Peter also spent a few years in the city. Antioch witnessed some periods of persecution like the one that occured under the rule of Docletian. Under emperor Constantine, as christianity was now the official State religion, the Bishop of Antioch was at the time considered one of the spiritual leaders of the Church of Orient. In 526 and 528 an earthquake considerably damaged the city. As the Byzantines were unable to keep the city under their control, Antioch came in turn under the domination of the Arabs, the Armenians, the Seljuks, the Crusaders, the Mamelukes, then the Ottomans in 1516.

Bergama

Bergama is located in north western Anatolia, 16 km from the Aegean Sea. It is a popular tourist destination due to its close proximity to the ruins of the ancient city of Pergamon, and has a population of around 60,000. Pergamon, or Pergamum, was an ancient Greek city on a promontory on the north side of the river Caicus (modern day Bakırçay), that became the capital of the Kingdom of Pergamon during the Hellenistic period, under the Attalid dynasty, 281–133 BC. Pergamon was cited in the book of Revelation as one of the seven churches of Asia. Today, the main sites of ancient Pergamon are to the north and west of the modern city of Bergama.

Source : wikitravel

Bergama

Thursday, December 6, 2012

History of Izmir

Izmir

The 5,000 year-old city of Izmir is one of the oldest cities of the Mediterranean basin. The original city was established in the third millennium BC (at present day Bayraklı), at which time it shared with Troy the most advanced culture in Anatolia.Greek settlement is attested by the presence of pottery dating from about 1000 BC. In the first millennium BC Izmir, then known as Smyrna, ranked as one of the most important cities of the Ionian Federation. During this period, it is believed that the epic poet Homer resided here.

Izmir

Lydian conquest of the city around 600 BC brought this golden age to an end. Smyrna was little more than a village throughout the Lydian and subsequent sixth century BC Persian rule. In the fourth century BC a new city was built on the slopes of Mt. Pagos (Kadifekale) during the reign of Alexander the Great. Smyrna's Roman period, beginning in the first century BC, was its second great era.

In the first century AD, Smyrna became one of the earliest centers of Christianity and it was one of the Seven Churches of Revelation. Both Revelation and the Martyrdom of Polycarp indicate the existence of a Jewish community in Smyrna as early as the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. The letter to the church at Smyrna in Revelation indicates that the Christians were spiritually "rich" and apparently in conflict with the Jews: "I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." (2:9)

Izmir

The origins of the Christian community there, which was established in the 1st century, are unknown. Ignatius of Antioch stopped at Smyrna on his way to martyrdom in Rome in 107 AD, and he sent a letter back to the Christians there from later in his journey. Smyrna's bishop, Polycarp, was burned at the stake in Smyrna's stadium around 156 AD.

Byzantine rule came in the fourth century and lasted until the Seljuk conquest in 11th century. In 1415, under Sultan Mehmed Çelebi, Smyrna became part of the Ottoman Empire.
The city earned its fame as one of the most important port cities of the world during the 17th to 19th centuries. The majority of its population were Greek but merchants of various origins (especially Greek, French, Italian, Dutch, Armenian, Sephardi and Jewish) transformed the city into a cosmopolitan portal of trade. During this period, the city was famous for its own brand of music (Smyrneika) as well as its wide range of products it exported to Europe (Smyrna/Sultana raisins, dried figs, carpets, etc.).
Today, Izmir is Turkey's third largest city and is nicknamed "the pearl of Aegean." It is widely regarded as the most Westernized city of Turkey in terms of values, ideology, gender roles, and lifestyle.

Izmir