From a hilltop vantage point with a sweeping view, visitors gaze down at a 12,000-year-old Turkish archeological site located in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. In the past few decades, as new discoveries have been unearthed, archaeologists have been changing their views about the significance of the site. Among non-archaeologists, it’s another story: speculation…
Today’s visitors to Turkiye’s Cappadocia come for two reasons – spectacular sunrise ascents over the rugged terrain in hot air balloons and stooped-over descents into underground retreats that protected residents from ancient predators traveling through the Tarsus Mountains. These hand-dug hideouts were elaborately engineered, multi-layered warrens of tunnels and rooms, some of which descended more than 275 feet into the earth. Among the people who hunkered down in them were early Christians determined to spread their faith across Asia Minor. The existential threats in the early centuries following Jesus’ resurrection came not only from Roman governors and Jewish Pharisees but also from Silk Road highway men passing through Cappadocia. Disputes could be doctrinal, territorial, or simply monetary. Regardless, the early Christians were not the first to seek underground shelter here.
By Charles Cecil It was 5:25 AM when the voice of the muezzin from the mosque next to my hotel woke me. I lay there, listening, waiting for the line I knew was coming: “As-salaat khairin min an-nom.” “Praying is better than sleeping.” I lay there, momentarily debating the issue. I had arrived the night…
By Cynthia David My first Turkish coffee arrived dark and steaming hot from an electric coffeemaker at Espressolab on Istanbul’s historic Istiklal Avenue. The Espressolab had a long, curved marble bar, high ceiling beams and an Art Deco espresso machine. The 20 and 30-somethings around me chatted and sipped their cappuccinos and pumpkin spice lattes…
By Charles Cecil I remember the first time I ever entered a mosque. It was in the early 1960s. Columns decorated with colorful tiles depicting floral designs supported arches bordered with bands of floral decoration. I was transfixed by the sight as my shoeless feet sunk gently into a plush carpet covered with geometric patterns.…
Petra’s fascination today lies not in its association with Indiana Jones but with lingering echoes of the Nabatean civilization that softly murmur at the end of the day when shadows envelop the terraced caves wealthy merchants once called home. Read More
By Mira Temkin Among Jewish people, Jerusalem’s Western Wall is the holiest place on earth. The “Kotel,” as it is called in Hebrew, evokes a mystical connection to history, Judaism, and personal prayer. People come to meditate at this sacred site and place notes with their personal prayers into the cracks between the stones. For…
Chances are, wherever you travel, you’ll find an Agatha Christie paperback. With eighty detective novels and story collections to her credit, Christie’s work has been translated into 130 languages and ranks third in sales behind the Bible and Shakespeare. She loved nothing more than going away and was utterly fearless about trying new destinations. Of her “foreign travel books,” she later would write, “if detective novels are escape literature, the reader can escape to sunny skies and blue water as well as to crime in the confines of an armchair.”
Much like the Eiffel Tower in Paris or the Parthenon in Athens, Hagia Sophia is a long-enduring symbol of cosmopolitan Istanbul. Built as a Christian basilica 1,500 years ago. it has served for centuries as a landmark for both Orthodox Christians and Muslims. Byzantine Emperor Constantine commissioned the first Hagia Sophia in 360 A.D. when…
By Jacqueline Swartz I am floating like a cork on the salty Dead Sea, 1,400 feet below sea level, thinking about mud and history. Earlier, at the spa in the Hotel Dan, I was slathered in the mineral-rich ooze, said to be a remedy for arthritis, skin ailments and even wrinkles. Not the usual pampering…