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Turkey
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 was a centre of the Christian Orthodox faith for 1000 years, which then became a centre of the Islamic Caliphate for 400 years. Sultan Selim I conquered Mamluk Egypt in 1517 and claimed a title of the Caliph. Then, try to imagine a Christian Orthodox church with some of the finest late Byzantine mosaics and frescoes that remained untouched by the Ottomans despite the fact that it became ...
Do you know that, apart from the famous Byzantine wonder that everyone knows, there is also Little Hagia Sophia? Certainly, I didn't know anything about it, but that's because I never really explored the Byzantine heritage in Istanbul before. It was on the occasion of my latest visit that I decided to see and write about this aspect of the city.
Despite the fact that 571 years passed since Constantinople ...
You may ask what the connection between Christ Pantokrator and Molla Zeyrek is? I'm sure that everyone knows who Jesus Christ is. But I think that not many people have heard of Molla Zeyrek.
The second biggest surviving Byzantine religious structure in Istanbul, the Christ Pantokrator church, is what connects these two people. That's because this historical building is the Molla Zeyrek mosque now.
But ...
I am not very lucky with the Pammakaristos Monastery. I went to see this former Byzantine church in 2019. That was when I started my travel around Turkey in Istanbul. I remember that the whole structure was covered in scaffolding. It seemed to me that they had just started major restoration works. I couldn't see anything at all.
I went back to Istanbul at the beginning of June this year. Naturally, ...
The last time I visited Hagia Sophia was in 2019, when I travelled around Turkey. I started that particular trip in Istanbul where I stayed for a week, before departing for Bursa. Regardless of the fact that I had already seen this Byzantine wonder many times in the past, I went again.
Hagia Sophia was a museum in 2019. The ticket to enter was 6o Turkish liras, which was approximately 10 euros at that ...
In the post "Food for Healthy Life and Strong Immune System", I wrote about my dietary habits: what I eat and what I avoid, in order to keep in good health. I easily adhere to my diet when I'm at home and in control of food that I buy, prepare and cook. But, is healthy nutrition possible when we travel? Well, let's have a look at what I did during my past travels. Back then, I didn't really pay much ...
In this post, I want to reflect on my travel around Turkey last year. I was there for 5 weeks and I visited 8 different cities - Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, Kusadasi, Aydin, Antalya, Konya and Ankara. I spent two weeks in two of Turkey's most popular summer resorts. Additionally, I explored Ottoman and Seljuk heritage and saw many wonderful historical sites that I've written about in my previous posts. I ...
Is Turkish food healthy? Perhaps, the right question to ask should be whether the food that I had in Turkey was healthy and whether I made healthy choices. Truthfully, the same as everywhere else, it's not really the food in a particular country that's good or bad. It's what we choose to eat that's either good for us or not.
But first, let's once again have a look at my nutritional ideology. I've written ...
While Ankara is not as rich in history and historical monuments like Istanbul, there are several sites that you can visit there. Undoubtedly, one of them is the monumental Ataturk Mausoleum, dedicated to the Father of the Nation. Within the mausoleum, the Ataturk and the War on Independence Museum is the best place to learn about the creation of the modern Turkish Republic. But, another fascinating place ...
