Of all Turkey’s delicious sweet confections, the most famous one is baklava. This exquisitely flavored pastry has been made in Anatolia for long centuries, and its ancestor may be a dish made by the Assyrians consisting of dried fruit sandwiched between two layers of pastry and baked in the oven. The earliest record of it as […]
THE BITTER COFFEE OF SOUTHEASTERN TURKEY: MIRRA
If any aroma were especially associated with the East it would be that of coffee. In coffee a journey westwards over the centuries it has taken many different forms and acquired a unique symbolic role in the etiquette of hospitality. Coffee culture has thus become an inextricable part of social life. The Name Origin of […]
TURKISH LANGUAGE
Before going deep down in its history and alphabet; the standard blow-your-mind for the Turkish Language example is: Afyonkarahisarlilastiramadiklarimizdanmisiniz? (45 characters) which means: Are you one of those people whom we tried -unsuccessfully- to make to resemble the citizens of Afyonkarahisar? This was once the record and pretty popular for a long while till another […]
MOUNTAINEERING IN TURKEY
A glance at a topographical map of Turkey reveals that this is a country of mountains. Rising from all four directions, mountains encircle the peninsula of Anatolia. A part of the Alpine-Himalayan Mountain range, Turkey has mountainous regions with different geological formations. The North Anatolian range skirts the Mediterranean shore. Turkey’s magnificent mountains and forests […]
THE NOAH’S PUDDING: ASURE
Asure has venerable associations, being ascribed to the times of Noah’s Flood. It is said to have been invented after the Ark rested on Mount Cudi in Southeastern Turkey (according to Islamic tradition) or Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey (Christian tradition). Whichever mountain it was, Noah ordered that all the remaining provisions on the ark […]
MALATYA GOLD: THE APRICOTS
When the 17th-century Turkish writer Evliya Celebi, who traveled throughout the Ottoman Empire recording everything he saw, visited Malatya he remarked upon the plentiful water from numerous springs, the good air, and the orchards and vineyards in the green plain, and said that this was a city which aroused the admiration of all those who […]
THE STORY OF TURKISH FOOD
“Do not dismiss the dish saying that it is just, simply food. The blessed thing is an entire civilization in itself!” Abdulhak Sinasi Turkish Cuisine: Prologue For those who travel engaged in culinary pursuits, Turkish Cuisine is a very, curious one. The variety of dishes that make up the cuisine, the ways they all come […]
MIGRATORY BIRDS OF TURKEY
Geographically, Turkey enjoys a very special location concerning seas and landmasses, and a remarkable diversity of terrain, habitat, and climate, with a large number of streams and rivers. The country has a coastline of 8200 kilometers, yet an average altitude of over 1100 meters. Vast forests of spruce and fir suddenly make way for bare […]
ROMAN GLADIATORS IN EPHESOS WERE ON A VEGETABLE DIET
The analysis made on Roman gladiators bones buried in Ephesus shows that they might have been vegetarians, according to the news published in Plos One. In a study by the Department of Forensic Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna in cooperation with the Department of Anthropology at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the […]
COMBINE & CONQUER: MOROCCO & SPAIN ITINERARY
Spain has been one of the most popular destinations in the globe for many years now. And Morocco is consistently featured as one of the coolest places to visit in travel magazines. Isn’t it great that you are so close to both? Here is our proposal to you: if you ask about either one, we […]