Turkey Travel Guide – A Land of Love and Hostility

“The world is a book and those who don’t travel read only one page” 

                                                                                      –  St. Augustine of  Hippo

Understanding  the world  of  Travel 

Well said  by Augustine indeed. Before diving deep about the place let’s first understand the simple meaning of travel. Well quite a wearisome task for many but it’s  an interesting one if you got it. I believe that one need to jump from simple to complex thing and that why I start with basic. Well according  to our dictionary , it defines travel as “to go from one place to another through any means”. Well everyone has their own way of defining it but  for a Hodophile the word travel is not only a word for them  but it is blended with emotions, love and passion, they live to travel and for them serious travel is an art. It’s a journey filled with sunshine and rainbow, a journey filled with happiness and sorrow, a journey filled with love and laughter. Their world is filled with full of flight and unfinished experiences , full of odds and evens but one thing that make them realized in their journey that in this world there is no one is ahead of you or no one is behind  you, you are all alone and you  are your one competitor and that’s why it has been said that journey always prove  to be more beautiful than destination. Indeed it turns out to be true, it is the journey which shows you the true mirror about yourself, it is the journey that leads you to discover the real side of you , it is the journey that open the path of hidden talent within you.Ofcourse , our journey is filled with conundrum, obstacles, roadblocks and so on but the result turned out to be fruitful.  As, I have already mentioned that the definition of travel varies from people to people, place to place , for some it’s only about enjoying the nature, the warm breeze, enjoying sitting under a tree and to observe the world through the lens of greenery, for some it’s about taking a break from busy life and monotonous routine, for some it’s about discovery  the hidden gem of our  world , for some it’s about seeing the world through the lens of  reality, anyway every dream has their own tales.

Travel is an very ancient phenomena.  It is actually true that I was not at all a hodophile  but now I am an ardent lover of travelling , I love to discover undiscovered place, I love to explore the world and I love to present the story before the audience, sharing experience always doubles your happiness and my my journey from being a hodophobia to hodophile is quite interesting and the whole credit goes to the novels  of travel. If you have ever read  the journey of  Robinson Crusoe ,of  Gulliver  of Prospero, you might get  connected with me. Roal Dahl in his book “ The Mipins” talk about the same , where he states that “ The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most beautiful”. And yes then I discovered my love for travel. As a bibliophile, I love to explore the world through  reading  but  there is a very fine line between what we read  and what we see, there is a fine line between imagination and experience. Imagination is  as beautiful as a rainbow, as sweet as a cake. It’s a beautiful experience, which consists a world of your own, where your solitude is your honest friend , your laughter is your sharing partner, your  sorrow is  your shadow , your comfort is you only, you are in a world that is filled with imaginary tree, sunrise, sunset, rainbow , moon and the list goes on and you enjoy every bit of that. “Ceaseless human urge for exploration” – a trem that would sum up drive for cultural travel throughout the world.  I have read a book called “Abroad : British Litreary Travelling between wars” by Paul Fussell where, he made a distinction between an explorer, traveller , and a tourist.

“ …………….all  three makes journey, but the explorer  seeks the undiscovered, the traveler, that which has been discovered  by the mind working in history, the tourist that which has been discovered by enterperunship and prepared for him by the arts of mass publicity. The genuine traveller is, or used to be , in the middle between the two extreme. If the explorer moves towards the risks of the formless and the unknown, the tourist moves  towards the security of pure cliché…….”

I understand the fact that this travel journey  quite  turns out to be philosophical instead of adventurous , you might feel like scratching me hard through a dragger  but  pardon me because my love for writing sometimes drag me out of the context  but don’t worry , I have not forgotten to describe you all about the land of love and hostility.  I am going to talk about a  land which is always in the news for  it’s bad  hostility but I feel that sometimes people  just drag  a topic out of the context  and other follows them in the same.

Let’s dive deep into the world  of Turkey.

Well, what you all know about Turkey. You all  must have the basic knowledge about  the country, that it’s capital is Ankara  and  Turkey is famous for tulips flower.  Oh, yes, you  all should be aware of the fact that the tulip which increases the beauty of your garden is has it’s real origin in Turkey and it is also the world’s largest producer  of Hazelnuts and so on. But, we are not here to talk about geography at all and I know you might feel bored if I will elaborate this  kind of  information  further  and  one might find all this information over internet or in book . so, I need to be precise with his general knowledge.

Turkey – A Land of Love and Hostility

  Let’s  talk  about  the things that you won’t find anywhere. So, first of all  we need  to understand the fact that judging a  book by its cover is never a solution to any problem. It’s basically shows the fact that you are nothing but a prejudiced person, I believe that one need to hold off until one know all the facts about that thing, everyone has their own way to see the world and you don’t need to see the world through  their lens. Wear your only lens to judge something and that’s what happened with Turkey and that’s why I need the feel to write about this place so that I can at least spread the truth. First of all Turkey is a beautiful place with beautiful people. What I loved most about their place is the hostility of the people. They  are so kind and generous, they  are just lovable people with a kind heart. 

Beauty of Nature.

Who doesn’t like nature.  Nature is the heart of our world. Just sitting near a garden, watching sunrise, sunset , blossoming of flowers, chirpings of birds, sounds of water, natural activities of tress , watching sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine is enough for your soul.  So, Turkey is  blessed with beauty of nature. It is filled with landscapes, just  a feeling a paradise to a lover of nature. This place is filled with high mountains,  there are wondrous waterfall, where you can go  and enjoy your day peacefully . Starting from Kursunlu waterfall, that is surrounded with animals to Durne waterfall, which offers you an unique view with delightful mist. If you are planning a trip to Turkey, make sure to  go and enjoy this waterfall to relieve yourself. Lake Van, one of the largest lake in Turkey, that should be in your bucket list, if you are visiting Turkey. Make sure to visit Patara, longest sandy beach and the best way to explore that place is through a horse back.

Some lesser known  facts about Turkey.

 Now, let’s talk about some of the hidden facts in Turkey. We will try our best to guide you into the path of authenticity. So that you don’t have to face any trouble while visiting the place. I would like to start with some rare information about that place that may amused you. Ok, have you ever heard about  hot bath , if not do search it in the internet, you should be aware about it. Hagia Sophia was famous for its hot baths. It’s history is quite interesting. Originally built by  Emperor  Justinian I and it is considered to  be the epitome of Byzantine architecture. Earlier  it was a mosque but now it turned out to be a museum. Earlier, this place is famous for its hot bath. Bagnio was full of women, who came there for hot bath, that  place once upon a time was filled with women, who enjoyed their bath with some gossips. It is more or less like a public sphere for women. Hot bathe provided them a platform , where they can communicate about everything, from politics to state  affairs about daily household chores  and so on. Basically, it gives them the freedom to be in their own world, away from patriarchal world. Their ‘civility’ and ‘beauty’ will mesmerized you. This place is also important to know about the women and their purdah culture, we are very prejudiced, when we  talk about Turkish women, we are provided with wrong information about them and this was the place that gives you the real information about these women. They are in reality more fairer than what we know about their complexion. We failed to notice their real beauty because of purdah and that’s why almost everyone put them in a wrong light, called them ugly and not beautiful but in reality they are more beautiful. Then, I want to elaborate about their purdah culture, which was presented in a very wrong way. This purdah are not like a prison to them, instead it gives them more liberty, ths women proves to be enjoy more liberty than the women of other’s country. It’s about past, now coming back to present state, which is converted  into a museum and the interior reminds everyone  the power of old Constantinople.  Next, on the list is Ephesus, it reminds you  about the power of Roman empire, a beautiful place embedded with  colossal monuments. This place is  known for its library of celseus, of great theatre and so on. A place to visit to know about the historical importance of  Roman empire. Next, on our list is famous Topkapi Palace, ok let’s be honest now, who doesn’t want to know about sultans and their rules, about their lifestyle and their grandeur, so, this is a perfect place to know about sultans and their lifestyle. It takes you into a opulent world of sultani raj. Interior tells about their lavish jeweled décor, and then the beautiful imperial council building, one should not forget to visit the garden of the royal court, it gives  you peace and tranquility. The place is a sight to behold with greenery all around, an amazing place for nature lover. Next, on the list s Troy. You must have heard about the famous Trojan war and if not do search it in goggle. This place will definitely takes you into the war scenarios, not physically ofcourse , but mentally, the multi layered rambling ruins here exposed  the vast history of occupation, reoccupation and so on, it gives you a glimpse of history. This are  some knowledge about the great places. Now, it’s time to talk about their fashion and culture, which are different from others. During the ancient times, their general fashion is to wear  a large bouquet  of  jewels, made like natural flowers, that is the buds of pearls, roses, different coloured  rubies, the jessamanies  of diamond. 

So, this is about Turkey in brief, where people love you for who you are, respect you for who you are, they not only respect you but also your religion, they receive you with warm hug and so much love. They  adore your culture, accept your religion and culture with  much humility. They shows that we are divided   with nation but united with love. And one need to understand the fact that when you are visiting another nation, do visit that place with a cosmopolitan view.so, this is all about travel and about Turkey. I tried my best to embedded both ancient and modern glory.