Amasya

Submitted by Iza on Tue, 11/28/2023 - 17:24

Beautiful Amasya is located in the narrow valley of the Yeşilırmak River, bordered on both sides by the soaring peaks of the Pontic Mountains. This location results in its extraordinary picturesqueness, as well as its strategic importance on the communication routes leading through Anatolia. In Turkey, Amasya is famous as the "capital of apples".

Amasra Museum

Submitted by Iza on Mon, 11/27/2023 - 16:09

This small local museum, nicely located off the beaten path, was once awarded as the best small museum in Turkey. It's definitely worth visiting while in Amasra. Most of the artefacts and works exhibited in the museum building are directly related to the history of Amasra and its surrounding region, ranging from the Hellenistic to Roman periods as well as to the Byzantine, Genoese, and Ottoman eras.

Basilica of St John in Philadelphia

Submitted by Iza on Sat, 11/25/2023 - 14:27

One of the Seven Churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation was the city of Philadelphia, now known as Alaşehir. Unfortunately, there are no remains of a Christian temple from the period of this apostle's activity in the city, simply because the first Christians met in private houses or meeting rooms. The "Church" that the Book of Revelation mentions was the community of Christians in a particular area. However, in Alaşehir you can see the ruins of a church from the Byzantine period, and more precisely from the 6th century CE.

Small mosques from the Aydınid period in Selçuk

Submitted by Iza on Thu, 11/23/2023 - 17:34

İsa Bey Mosque is not the only mosque in Selçuk that dates back to the 14th century. As a matter of fact, there are several more religious structures from the Aydınid period, and they also deserve some attention. As they are of much smaller dimensions, the word that describes these mosques in Turkish is not "cami" but "mescit", meaning precisely a small mosque or a place of religious worship. It is worth remembering that the present appearance of all of these buildings is the result of a thorough renovation.

The tour of these historical mosques starts and ends near İsa Bey Mosque as they are all located very close to each other, on the southern side of Ayasuluk Hill. The sightseeing tour is arranged clockwise and takes only 45 minutes to complete as the route is around 3-kilometers-long.

This text is a fragment of a guidebook to Ephesus: "The Secrets of Ephesus".

Acropolis of Pergamon

Submitted by Iza on Sat, 11/18/2023 - 15:48

The modern city of Bergama is dominated by a hill where the ancient Acropolis of Pergamon was located. The word "Acropolis", in the areas of Greek colonization, meant the highest part of the city, most often covered with buildings playing public and religious functions. The Acropolis of Pergamon, unlike the Acropolis of Athens, served mainly the inhabitants of the city, and not the religious purposes. Here, the citizens of Pergamon walked, met, dealt with official matters, traded, and practised sports. The importance of the ancient monuments of Pergamon has now been recognized by UNESCO, which included them on the World Heritage List in 2014.