in the middle east

We arrived in Ataturk airport on the evening of Saturday, Sept 10, outside of Istanbul. After a complicated series of light-rail transfers, we made it to downtown Istanbul, and were instantly captured by the charm and amazing history of the city. The country of Turkey (for a helpful map, clike here) is home to 65 million people, and is a today a modern republic founded in 1923. The majority of the population is Sunni Muslim, but the government does not enforce any kind of religious rule. It is a very westernized country, offering a mix of East and West. The stretch of land now called Turkey was the theater of some of the major events of world history. The ancient Hittites had their capital in the SE. The famous battle of Troy (remember, the trojan horse?) was fought over 3,000 years ago on the western coast, which also houses the ruins of some of the most famous ancient cities, particularly Ephesus. Modern Turkey contains much of the territory where missionary journeys of Paul and Barnabas took place (Galatia, Cappadocia, Bythinia, Ephesus, Colosse). The largest city in the country, Istanbul (for a helpful map, click here), is a modern city built upon the ancient city of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine empire for a millenium. In fact, one night our hostel manager was offering free pints of Turkish beer down in the basement lounge. We got talking about the history of the neighborhood, and he opened a trap door in the floor, and showed us the hallway of the emperor Constantine's ancient palace that lay right beneath the hostel! So amazing. If that were not enough, the great Ottoman Turkish empire captured and ruled from the city from the 1500's to the last century. And the sultan's gigantic palace still stands today. We rather exhausted ourselves trying to see all there was to see, but it was so worth it. We were in Istanbul for a total of 4.5 days, along with a day and a half trip to ancient Ephesus. We stayed at a hostel right in the heart of downtown, which did not make for much quiet time, but we were a short walk from everything. Our pictures don't do justice to the rich sights and intriguing culture here in Turkey, but we hope you can get a feel of this amazing country. To see more just click here.