Great Kebap Adventures on Turkey Tours!

When it comes to discovering a country’s culture, eating is perhaps one of the most complete experiences you can have. It engages all your senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and even sound! And on Turkey tours, one thing’s for sure – this kind of experience can be had practically every day!

Through a wide range of tempting dishes with endless variations from the country’s different regions, the food choices available on Turkey tours may be overwhelming. There are a great many you can try on your fabulous food adventure, but there’s nothing like the standard kebap (kebab) to get you started.

The Kebap (Kebab)

Chances are you’ve already had kebabs back home. One thing is for sure, however, they are nothing like the kind of kebaps you will find on Turkey tours! Turkish kebaps are distinct in the way they are cooked, the spices used, and how they are presented – distinctions that vary depending on the region. Lamb and veal are the most common meats used in kebaps, but you can find them made of beef as well. Read the rest of this entry »

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Turkey – Topkapi Palace

In the upper gallery of the Topkapi Palace, 37 portraits of different sultans are displayed in chronological order. Most of them are copies; their originals are in various European countries today.

The portrait of Sultan Mehmet II was painted by the Italian painter G. Bellini in the 15th century, and is in the National Gallery of London. The portrait on display is a copy made by the palace painter Zonaro in the early 1900′s.

The portrait of Sultan Murat V is attributed to the Russian court painter Aiwazowski (19th century), while the portrait of Sultan Abdulaziz (19th century) is attributed to the Polish painter Clobowski. Moreover, there are many more portraits of other sultans to see, including one of Sultan Selim II by Constantin from Kapidag.

There is also the interesting clock collection near the hall of sacred relics in the previous weaponry treasury. The clocks in Topkapi Palace were not exhibition objects, originally, but were for the daily use of the sultans. Some of them were manufactured in the Ottoman Empire, while others reached the Ottoman court through foreign rulers and dignitaries. Read the rest of this entry »

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Turkey – The Temple of Artemis

If you walk two or three hundred metres from Ephesus Museum on the right-hand side of the road leading to Ephesus and Kusadasi from Selcuk, towards Isa Bey Mosque, you will come across a large hole. Over this large hole, which turns into a pool of water in the spring months, the Temple of Artemis once used to stand. It played an important part in the social and religious life of Ephesus. The first builders of the temple were said to be the Amazons. Plinius the writer, reports that the temple was ransacked seven times in its history.

When Ephesus came under the rule of Croesus, the King of the Lydians, he saw that the Ephesians had Kersifron, the architect from Crete, and his son Metagenes, to rebuild the temple. He himself donated pillars, the lower parts of which were decorated with reliefs. This temple of the Archaic period was burned by a madman named Herostratos in the year 356 A. D. two hundred years after its construction. Then the temple, which was one of the 7 Wonders of the World, was rebuilt to the same measurements as the old temple, that is 425 feet in length, 220 feet in width and 60 feet in height, and decorated with 120 pillars in the Ionian style. From here, you can see Ayasuluk on which Isa Bey Mosque and the Church of St. John stand. In the distance behind them the Byzantine castle can be seen. The temple was maintained up to the year 111 A. D., but it was torn down and pillaged by the Goths in 263 A.D. It was not erected again because Christianity had won its victory, pagan temples had been torn down or re-adapted. Read the rest of this entry »

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