The story of the Sultanate of Women ends with Turhan Hatice Sultan, one of the most influential women in Ottoman history. This remarkable era in the Ottoman Empire started around 1533, when Suleiman the Magnificent married the love of his life, Hürrem Sultan. It concluded with the death of Turhan Hatice Sultan in 1683.
WHAT IS SULTANATE OF WOMEN?
This era ...
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The story of the Sultanate of Women continues with Kosem Sultan, one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history. This fascinating period started around 1533, when Suleiman the Magnificent married the love of his life, Hürrem Sultan, and ended with the death of Turhan Hatice Sultan in 1683.
WHAT IS SULTANATE OF WOMEN?
This era was marked by the political ...
WHAT IS SULTANATE OF WOMEN?
This era was marked by the political ...
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 ...
In this post, I'd like to reflect on my travel around Turkey. I was there for 5 weeks and 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 travelled by bus ...
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 rich in historic 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 War on Independence Museum is the best place to learn about the creation of the modern Turkish Republic. But, another fascinating place and a must see in ...
Anitkabir or the Ataturk Mausoleum, dedicated to the Father of the Nation - Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - is possibly the most important historic place in Ankara. Within the mausoleum complex, apart from the Ataturk's tomb, the Ataturk Museum is what everyone should visit.
MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK
I don't want to get into too many details about Ataturk. There is ...
MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK
I don't want to get into too many details about Ataturk. There is ...
Of all places that I visited in Turkey, perhaps, I could've skipped Ankara. Although, it made sense to stop there within the context of my travel. I was in Konya and wanted to go back to Istanbul. One way to travel from Konya to Istanbul is by bus via Ankara, and that's what I did.
But let me explain my earlier comment. Ankara is not a tourist destination the way, for example, Istanbul is. It came to ...
I previously wrote about the Seljuk heritage in Konya and also about the fascinating Mevlana Museum. But there is also Ottoman Konya to consider, in addition to history before it became an important Ottoman city.
In fact, it was really the only thing that I knew about Konya when I decided to go there, during my travel across Turkey.
OTTOMAN KONYA
Two ...
OTTOMAN KONYA
Two ...
Certain special places exist in the world, but we may not know anything about them. In my case, Mevlana Museum was one of them. When I included Konya in my travel itinerary, I knew that it was an important Ottoman city. So, it made sense for me to go there because one of the reasons for my travel across Turkey was to explore Ottoman heritage.
I remember reading about Konya on the beach in Antalya, ...
