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Istanbul
I didn't know anything about Yedikule Fortress before I went to see it. In fact, I've never heard of it despite the fact that I've been to Istanbul many times in the past. I went there because that's where I started my tour of Theodosian Walls. I thought that it was part of the Byzantine heritage, but I was wrong. Fatih Sultan Mehmed ordered construction of this fortress immediately after the conquest of ...
When we talk about the Byzantine heritage in modern-day Istanbul, certainly magnificent Hagia Sophia immediately comes to mind. But there are also former Christian Orthodox churches that you can see in the city, which are all mosques now. However, the Byzantine legacy doesn't end there. The Theodosian Walls protected the city for 1000 years, while the only remaining Byzantine imperial palace is the Tekfur ...
Imagine a city that served as a centre of the Christian Orthodox faith for a thousand years and later became a centre of the Islamic Caliphate for four centuries. When Sultan Selim I conquered Mamluk Egypt in 1517, he assumed the title of Caliph. Now, imagine a Christian Orthodox church adorned with some of the finest late Byzantine mosaics and frescoes, masterpieces that remained untouched by the Ottomans ...
Do you know that, apart from the famous Byzantine wonder that everyone knows, there is also the Little Hagia Sophia? Certainly, I didn't. But that's because I had never really explored Istanbul's Byzantine heritage before. It was during my visit in June 2024 that I finally decided to explore and write about this fascinating aspect of the city.
Even though 571 years have passed since Constantinople fell ...
I am not very lucky with the Pammakaristos Monastery. I went to see this former Byzantine chuch in 2019, at the very start of my travels around Turkey in Istanbul. I remember the entire structure being covered in scaffolding. It seemed that they had just started major restoration works and I couldn't see anything at all.
I returned to Istanbul in June 2024. Naturally, the Pammakaristos Monastery was on ...
I went to Istanbul after nearly 5 years. It was the most obvious destination that I could choose after a hiatus in my travel. I spent 5 weeks in Turkey in 2019, Istanbul was my first stop at that time. Afterwards, I went to Bursa, Izmir, Kusadasi, Aydin, Antalya, Konya and Ankara. I'm planning to see the eastern part of Turkey in the near future but, before that, I wanted to continue exploring the ...
The Sultanate of Women represents a fascinating period in Ottoman history. It began around 1533, when Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent married Hürrem Sultan. It concluded with the death of Turhan Hatice Sultan in 1683.
WHAT IS SULTANATE OF WOMEN?
This era was marked by the political dominance of wives and mothers of Ottoman sultans. From 1566, following the ...
WHAT IS SULTANATE OF WOMEN?
This era was marked by the political dominance of wives and mothers of Ottoman sultans. From 1566, following the ...
Topkapi Palace, the imperial court and centre of Ottoman power for 375 years, is possibly the most famous of all Ottoman heritage in Istanbul. Approximately 30 sultans ruled the empire from there. The palace is a huge complex, meticulously designed to protect and impress. Sultans lived there in an utmost Ottoman imperial opulence, together with their families and concubines.
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Without any doubt, Topkapi Palace is probably the most famous of all Ottoman heritage in Istanbul. Fatih Sultan Mehmed commissioned its construction shortly after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It was an imperial court and residence of Ottoman sultans and their families for 375 years. The harem within the palace is probably its most fascinating part. A mysterious place where many people lived ...
In my previous article, Back in Riccione, I mentioned that the main reason for my recent travel to Italy was to attend my friend's 50th birthday party. A month earlier, my friend's brother asked me to send him some photos of places that my friend and I visited together. He wanted to make a photo album, a retrospective of my friend's life. It was a wonderful idea, to step back in time and revisit past ...
