Straddling Two Continents and Two Cultures.

My Ararat.

A WORD ABOUT ISTANBUL

What is now called Asian Istanbul was probably inhabited by people as early as 3000 BC Eventually, in the 7th century, Greek colonists led by King Byzas established the colony of Byzantium, the Greek name for a city on the Bosphorus. Byzas chose the spot after consulting an oracle of Delphi who told him to settle across from the “land of the blind ones. ” Indeed, Byzas concluded, earlier settlers must have been deprived of their sight to have overlooked this superb location at the mouth of the Bosphorus strait. This proved an auspicious decision by Byzas, as history has shown Istanbul’s location important far beyond what these early Greek settlers might possibly have conceived. Byzas gave his name to the city: Byzantium.
In the early l00′s BC, it became part of the Roman Empire and in 306 AD, Emperor Constantine the Great made Byzantium capital of the entire Roman Empire. From that point on, the city was known as Constantinople.
The mid 400′s AD was a time of enormous upheaval in the empire. Barbarians conquered the western Roman Empire while the Eastern, also called the Byzantine Empire, kept Constantinople as its capital. In 532 during the reign of Justinian I, antigovernment riots destroyed the city. It was rebuilt, and outstanding structures such as Hagia Sophia stand as monuments to th

Cave Dwellings Of Cappadocia. Turkey.

Istanbul and the Bosphorus Sea.

Turkey, known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace (Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhichevan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea and Archipelago are to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. Separating Anatolia and Thrace are the Sea of Marmara and the Turkish Straits (the Bosporus and the Dardanelles), which are commonly reckoned to delineate the border between Asia and Europe, thereby making Turkey transcontinental.

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic whose political system was established in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. Since then, Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in organizations such as the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the G-20 major economies. Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the EEC since 1963, and having reached a customs union agreement in 1995.

Ortakoy Mosque and the Bosphorus Bridge, Istanbul

Meanwhile, as a Muslim-majority country, Turkey has continued to foster close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the Eastern world, particularly with the states of the Middle East and Central Asia, through membership in organizations such as the OIC and ECO. Turkey is classified as a developed country by the CIA and as a regional power by political scientists and economists worldwide.

The Travel Planner Map Of Turkey

The Provincial Map Of Turkey.

This Tour Of Ours And The Blog Are Both Dedicated To My Dear Old Mum, And Her Uncle Geoffrey.

My Dear Old Mum. ____________________________________________________________________________________

Decisions

When one decides that he / she or it, is going to have a holiday, where does one start. Actually I decided this about 32 years ago. And for the life of me , I can’t remember, whether I decided on the Holiday or to go to Turkey first. One thing that interested me about Turkey was that historical link that people from New Zealand and Australia have with that place called Gallipoli.

Panoramic view of the Dardanelles fleet.

My Great Uncle was one of the first soldiers to Gallipoli, with The Australian Forces. Yet he was a New Zealander. You see when W.W.1 broke out he was working as an Engineer with the Geelong Harbour Trust. He no doubt thought it was his duty to come to the aid of his King and Country, so joined the Australian Forces instead of The New Zealand Army.

Unlike a lot of other ANZAC’s he did survive this campaign, and when he left Galipopli he went to another part of the world that is also stained with too much ANZAC blood. This place that they were now sending him to, was in France and the called it the Somme. Yes poor young Uncle Geoff. He is still there today.

Roll of Honour

He will never grow old, and we will remember him.

He will never grow old, and we will remember him.

He will never grow old, and we will remember him.

Aussie Diggers.

So this is another one of the reasons that Wendy and I are going to go to Turkey. And What about Goreme, Cappadocia.

That’s Another Reason To Visit Turkey

There is also another reason that I’m going to Turkey, and besides saying that I’m going there because its there, is that it’s very close to a mountain I have always had a yearning to see, let alone touch. I’ve always called it My Ararat. Yes my Mount Ararat.

Mount Ararat From Uzengili.

Now when I started to think about touring Turkey, I started to reaalise that one just doesn’t book your tickets and go. Especially when you are being accompanied by your precious little wife. No, not if you want to to come with you all the way, let alone come home with you. I started to do some checking on the net and came across this site clled

Anyway I started looking around, checking out the FORUM Section and doing a lot of reading.

See my Profile on Localyte.com!