Month

January 2024
sardis
22/01/2024

Sart Köy – Sardis, Turkey Travel

The partially restored synagogue and the ruins of temples and churches mark the importance of Sardis as a religious site. Beginning in the 6th century BC Sardis was the terminus of the main east-west Royal Road. As the capital of Lydia it was the commercial center of the western Mediterranean well into 1st century BC. On the main highway east from İzmir, now surrounded with rich farm land, Sardis owed much of its power to the gold that its kings took from the Pactolus (Sart çayı) stream that comes down out of Mt. Tmolus (Bozdağ). The Lydian empire...
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Yuşa Tepesi
22/01/2024

Yuşa Tepesi, – Giant’s Hill, Anadolu Kavağı – Genoese Castle

Two places of interest because of their long history as religious sites are near the northern end of the Bosphorus on the Asiatic side. Yuşa Tepesi, a grave and a mosque high on a hill north of Beykoz, is a place of pilgrimage for Muslims who count it holy and believe that the water from the well in front of the mosque has healing powers. The huge grave (about 18 m long) is reputed to belong to Yuşa, or Joseph, Dede; earlier it was called “the Bed...
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Xanthos
18/01/2024

Kınık – Xanthos, The Letoon, Turkey

Xanthos is located dramatically high above the Xanthos River (Esen Çayı). Two of Homer’s heroes are from here, Lord Sarpedon and faultless Glaucos who came from the distant, whirling waters of Xanthos. One of the most heartrending stories of history, told by Herodotus, is of the defense of the city against attacking Persians about 540 BC. When the Lycians realized that they would lose, the men collected their wives, children, slaves and all their other possesions, locked them in the citadel, set fire to it, and then sallied forth...
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izmir
10/01/2024

İzmir – Smryna, Beautiful places to visit in Turkey

İzmir is the third largest city in Turkey and the main center for exports. It was the site of the second church scolded by John in Revelation, and the home of the martyred Polycarp. A number of synagogues, and the home of the martred Polycarp. A number of synagouges function as places of worship for the Jewish community. Tourists who stay here find it a useful center from which to explore to whole Aegean region. In addition, there is much to see in İzmir itself. The history first. A port...
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