There are many places that I’m dying to see and experience and I can’t really rank them in any particular order of preference. I’ve been looking closely at Turkey for the last week, primarily because it’s one of the areas of the world that I really want to visit even though I don’t know a lot about it.
There are a lot of countries that are known primarily for their history: Egypt, Greece, and Italy are all generally celebrated for their roles as birthplaces of civilization. The Egyptians with their pyramids, the Parthenon in Athens and the Coliseum in Rome…these are all visible relics of an ancient world that have been intrinsic parts of our early education.
Istanbul in Turkey isn’t as well known as those other ancient cities but its history is as colorful and significant. Originally known as Byzantium and Constantinople, Istanbul isn’t as old as Rome or Athens but it’s still been around since the 7th millennium BC. When Rome fell Constantinople remained as a dominant European force in politics and religion for nearly a thousand years. Perfectly poised as it is between Europe and Asia (the city is now part of both continents) it was a nexus of trade.
Given my fascination and appreciation for history, it should be pretty obvious why I want to go there. The sight-seeing opportunities are immense: the Hagia Sophia (built in 537 AD), Sultanahmet Square which was once the Hippodrome of Constantinople, to say nothing of the countless Roman and Grecian ruins that remain in the surrounding region, make it paradise for a history buff like me. To walk on ground tread by such personages as Emperor Constantine, Justinian the Great, and Mehmed the Conqueror…what an amazing opportunity.
Then, of course, there’s the Black Sea, which I’ve always wanted to see. The Aegean Sea is a quick jaunt by road. For all my travels, I’ve not yet been to a Muslim city or heard the calls to prayer. And I’ve long been a fan of kebabs.
A visit to Istanbul would be enormously exotic and give me an opportunity to set foot in Asia for the first time. What’s not to like about that? Chances are I’d rent a car while there and visit Turkey’s capital, Ankara as well as famous ruins such as Ephesus and Troy.
Of course, it’d also make for an intimidating trip. I don’t know a single word of Turkish (yet) and the very things that make Turkey so intriguingly exotic are also completely out of my comfort zone. I’d be alone and sticking out like a sore thumb the entire time. I've also read some terrifying things about poisonous snakes, ticks, scorpions. But those are fears I’m perfectly willing to overcome and I like the challenge of doing things that frighten me. A trip to such an exotic, foreign locale would be the experience of a lifetime.
I’ve spent the last week reading about Turkey and learning all kinds of fascinating things about it. Of all my options, Turkey is certainly the most intriguing and frightening.
There are a lot of countries that are known primarily for their history: Egypt, Greece, and Italy are all generally celebrated for their roles as birthplaces of civilization. The Egyptians with their pyramids, the Parthenon in Athens and the Coliseum in Rome…these are all visible relics of an ancient world that have been intrinsic parts of our early education.
Istanbul in Turkey isn’t as well known as those other ancient cities but its history is as colorful and significant. Originally known as Byzantium and Constantinople, Istanbul isn’t as old as Rome or Athens but it’s still been around since the 7th millennium BC. When Rome fell Constantinople remained as a dominant European force in politics and religion for nearly a thousand years. Perfectly poised as it is between Europe and Asia (the city is now part of both continents) it was a nexus of trade.
Given my fascination and appreciation for history, it should be pretty obvious why I want to go there. The sight-seeing opportunities are immense: the Hagia Sophia (built in 537 AD), Sultanahmet Square which was once the Hippodrome of Constantinople, to say nothing of the countless Roman and Grecian ruins that remain in the surrounding region, make it paradise for a history buff like me. To walk on ground tread by such personages as Emperor Constantine, Justinian the Great, and Mehmed the Conqueror…what an amazing opportunity.
Then, of course, there’s the Black Sea, which I’ve always wanted to see. The Aegean Sea is a quick jaunt by road. For all my travels, I’ve not yet been to a Muslim city or heard the calls to prayer. And I’ve long been a fan of kebabs.
A visit to Istanbul would be enormously exotic and give me an opportunity to set foot in Asia for the first time. What’s not to like about that? Chances are I’d rent a car while there and visit Turkey’s capital, Ankara as well as famous ruins such as Ephesus and Troy.
Of course, it’d also make for an intimidating trip. I don’t know a single word of Turkish (yet) and the very things that make Turkey so intriguingly exotic are also completely out of my comfort zone. I’d be alone and sticking out like a sore thumb the entire time. I've also read some terrifying things about poisonous snakes, ticks, scorpions. But those are fears I’m perfectly willing to overcome and I like the challenge of doing things that frighten me. A trip to such an exotic, foreign locale would be the experience of a lifetime.
I’ve spent the last week reading about Turkey and learning all kinds of fascinating things about it. Of all my options, Turkey is certainly the most intriguing and frightening.