The Life | The Art | The Tradition “I came to this world in three hundred and ten.” Veysel Satiroglu was born in 1894 in Sivrialan Village of Sivas, District of Sarkisla. The story of how he was born is somehow similar to that of almost every child in Anatolian villages. But it is interesting […]
Silk, the yarns, and textiles made with filaments of the cocoons of several species of moth (especially the Bombyx mori, which feeds on white mulberry leaves and was cultivated in ancient China). Silk cloths from the Far East reached the Mediterranean already in Roman times, and raw silk and silk yarns imported from China, Central […]
Mardin, the legendary city of Upper Mesopotamia, has a history going back to 8000 BC, and over the millennia numerous civilizations have come and gone. This is a city of evocative beauty and unique atmosphere, where people of different cultures and religions have always lived in harmony. The Romans knew it as Maride, the Persians […]
The Turkish Bath or Hamam is an atmospheric world all its own in the midst of the modern bustling city. Everyone who sets foot in here surrenders to the water in a voluntary form of captivity, for the process of purification of not just the body but also the soul. Upon entering the door you […]
In the autumn of 1945, a research team from Istanbul University traced the ancient caravan routes through the passes of the Toros Mountains in search of Hittite sites. The team was led by Professor Dr. Helmut Th. Bossert and included Dr. Halet Cambel. At Feke, a small town in the Toros over a hundred kilometers […]
Thirty kilometers east of the city of Denizli in southwest Turkey you see a yellow signpost pointing south to Haydarbaba Turbe and Kaklik Cave 3 kilometers away. Kaklik Cave was created by an underground stream eating away the limestone and sulfurous rock of the region. It seems strange that a cave should be situated not […]
Here is a recipe that is at least four thousand years old. Boil three cups of water in a saucepan and add one cup of bulgur (cracked wheat), a knob of butter and salt. Cook until the water is absorbed. This simple dish is extremely nourishing. It is widely used not only in Turkish Cuisine […]
Tere is one food without which no meal is complete, in Turkey at any rate. That is bread, a food we know so well yet never tire of. It is delicious all by itself when it comes steaming hot and crusty from the oven, and comes in innumerable varieties. We all have our favorites. It […]
One of the earliest Turkish principalities in Anatolia, the Mengucek rulers bore the titles of sah and melik (shah and king respectively). In the 12th and 13th centuries, they constructed magnificent buildings in their capital city of Divrigi in the Turkish province of Sivas. It consists of houses with gardens and orchards spread out over […]
The town of Didim is one of the prettiest in Turkey’s southwestern province of Aydin. As you enter the seaside town an imposing monument can be seen rising towards the clouds like a mountain peak. This is the Temple of Apollo, a god with Anatolian roots associated with light, music, and prophecy. He was the […]
