The New Mosque (Turkish: Yeni Cami, pronounced [jeni dʒami], originally named the Valide Sultan Mosque, Turkish: Valide Sultan Camii) and later New Valide Sultan Mosque (Turkish: Yeni Valide Sultan Camii) after its partial reconstruction and completion between 1660 and 1665, is an Ottoman imperial mosque located in the Eminönü quarter of Istanbul, Turkey. It is situated on the Golden Horn, at the southern end of the Galata Bridge, and is a notable Istanbul landmark marking the crossing from the old historic core of the city to the Beyoğlu (Pera) district. The mosque is a notable example of the Sultanate of Women period in Ottoman Empire.

The construction of the mosque began in 1597. It was ordered by Safiye Sultan, who was the wife of Sultan Murad III and later Valide Sultan (Queen Mother) of Sultan Mehmed III. She ordered the mosque in her capacity as Valide Sultan, two years after Mehmed III's ascension to the Ottoman throne in 1595, hence the original formal name "Valide Sultan Mosque".

The original architect was Davut Ağa, an apprentice to the great Mimar Sinan. However, Davut Ağa died in 1599 and was replaced by Dalgıç Ahmed Çavuş. The construction took more than half a century and was completed by another Valide Sultan, Turhan Sultan, mother of Sultan Mehmed IV.

The project was hampered by political disconnect, and its location and monetary implications created dissent in the court. Eminönü was the city's foremost commercial centre, and home to a predominantly Jewish population. In situating the mosque there, Safiye Sultan hoped to extend the sphere of Islamic influence within the city, capitalising on the growing discontent of both local and foreign merchants who were concerned by the increasing influence of their Jewish counterparts, which gave the Sultan an easy justification for confiscating their property. However, the vast monetary outlay drew sharp criticism. In particular, the Janissaries resented the growing political power of the Valide sultan, and believed the mosque to be an unnecessary expenditure. Safiye was forced to abandon the project upon Mehmed III's death in 1603. The new Sultan, Ahmed I, had no interest in pursuing the project after Safiye was relegated to the harem and the construction was abandoned.

After 1603, the partially constructed structure gradually fell into ruins; and was severely damaged during the Great Fire of 1660 which destroyed many neighbourhoods in the city. Later that year, the imperial architect Mustafa Ağa suggested that Turhan Sultan, mother of Sultan Mehmed IV, should complete the project as a work of piety. Turhan also ordered the construction of the nearby Spice Bazaar, which forms a part of the külliye of the New Mosque. Thus, in the last months of 1660, the construction of the mosque was resumed, while the construction of the adjacent bazaar began.

The mosque was finally completed in 1663, and inaugurated in 1665. It was renamed the "New Valide Sultan Mosque" (Yeni Valide Sultan Camii). In time, this name was informally shortened as the "New Mosque" (Yeni Cami) among the public.

Wizz Air Holdings Plc., stylized as W!ZZ, is a Hungarian ultra low-cost carrier group headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. The company includes subsidiaries Wizz Air Hungary, Wizz Air Malta, and Wizz Air UK. The airlines serve numerous cities across Europe, as well as some destinations in North Africa, the Middle East, and South and Central Asia. As of 2023, the airline group has its largest bases at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport, and London Luton Airport and flies to 194 airports.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, straddling the Bosporus Strait, the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has a population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe[c] and the world's sixteenth-largest city.

The city was founded as Byzantium in the 7th century BCE by Greek settlers from Megara. In 330 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital, renaming it first as New Rome (Ancient Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Rhomē; Latin: Nova Roma) and then finally as Constantinople (Constantinopolis) after himself. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν eis tḕn Pólin 'to the City', the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city.

The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. The city grew in size and influence, eventually becoming a beacon of the Silk Road and one of the most important cities in history. The city played a key role in the advancement of Christianity during Roman/Byzantine times, hosting four of the first seven ecumenical councils before its transformation to an Islamic stronghold following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE—especially after becoming the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1517.[ In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey.

Istanbul was the 2010 European Capital of Culture. The city has surpassed London and Dubai to become the most visited city in the world, with more than 20 million foreign visitors in 2023. The historic centre of Istanbul is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city hosts the headquarters of numerous Turkish companies, accounting for more than thirty percent of the country's economy.

Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE. In the European side, near the point of the peninsula (Sarayburnu) there was a settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the possible Thracian toponym Lygos, mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium.

There is evidence suggesting there were settlements around the region dating as far back as 6700 BC, and it is hard to define if there was any settlement on exact spot at city proper established, but earliest records about city proper begins around 660 BC when Greek settlers from the Attic town of Megara colonized the area and established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosphorus. It fell to the Roman Republic in 196 BC, and was known as Byzantium in Latin until 330, when the city, soon renamed as Constantinople, became the new capital of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Justinian I, the city rose to be the largest in the western world, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople functioned as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which effectively ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Turks.

The population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, once again ranking among the world's most popular cities. With the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, that country's capital moved from Constantinople to Ankara (previously Angora).

Anıtkabir is a mausoleum complex located in the Çankaya district of Ankara, Turkey. It serves as the resting place of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first President of the Turkish Republic. Designed by architects Emin Onat and Orhan Arda, the construction of Anıtkabir began in 1944 and was completed in 1953. In addition to the mausoleum, the complex consists of various structures and monuments, as well as a wooded area known as the Peace Park.

Following Atatürk's death on November 10, 1938, it was announced that his remains would be kept at the Ethnography Museum of Ankara until a mausoleum could be constructed in Ankara. To determine the location for the mausoleum, a commission was established by the government. Based on a report prepared by the commission, it was decided during a meeting of the Republican People's Party parliamentary group on January 17, 1939, that the structure would be built on Rasattepe. Following this decision, expropriation work began on the relevant land, and an international design competition was launched on March 1, 1941, to determine the structure's design. After the competition ended on March 2, 1942, the evaluations resulted in the decision to implement the project of Emin Onat and Orhan Arda with some modifications, and construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on October 9, 1944. The construction was carried out in four stages, and due to some problems and delays, it was completed in October 1953, later than originally planned. During the construction, changes were made to the project. On November 10, 1953, Atatürk's remains were transferred to Anıtkabir in a ceremony. Cemal Gürsel, who was buried in 1966, and the remains of eleven people who were buried between 1960 and 1963, were exhumed from Anıtkabir in 1988. İsmet İnönü's grave has been located at Anıtkabir since 1973.

The main building in the complex is the mausoleum, which includes Atatürk's symbolic sarcophagus in the section known as the Hall of Honor, while his actual tomb is located in the lower level of the building. The entrance to the complex is through a tree-lined avenue called the Lions' Road, which leads to the ceremony square. The mausoleum is situated on one side of this square, surrounded by colonnades, while the exit from the complex is located on the opposite side of the square along the path of the Lions' Road. The complex features ten towers at the four corners of the Lions' Road, at the exit of the ceremony square, and at the corners of the square, as well as two sculpture groups and the Atatürk and Independence War Museum. All of these structures, collectively known as the Monument Block, are surrounded by a wooded area called Peace Park. The structures in the complex are made of reinforced concrete and feature surfaces and floors made of various types of marble and travertine, as well as decorative elements created using relief, mosaic, fresco, and carving techniques. The Neoclassical style of the Second National Architecture Movement features elements inspired by the Hittite, Ancient Greek, Seljuk, and Ottoman architectural styles that have exerted influence over the region now known as Turkey throughout history.

The responsibility for all services and tasks at Anıtkabir belongs to the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, and events to be held here are regulated by law. Official commemoration ceremonies are held at Anıtkabir on national holidays in Turkey and on the anniversary of Atatürk's death on November 10, organized by the government. In addition to these, ceremonies are also organized by individuals and representatives of legal entities who are included in the state protocol. Anıtkabir is a place that is occasionally visited and official ceremonies are held at the site by foreign government officials during their official visits to Turkey.

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası. In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası. In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in the world by population. It is a city on two continents; about two-thirds of its population live in Europe and the rest in Asia. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its area of 5,461 square kilometers (2,109 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province.

Limyra (in Greek Λιμύρα) was a small city in Lycia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, on the Limyrus River, and twenty stadia from the mouth of that river.It was a prosperous city, and one of the oldest cities in lycia. The city had rich and abundant soil, and gradually became one of the finest trade settlements in Greece. Pericles adopted it as the capital of the lycian league.

It is mentioned by Strabo (XIV, 666), Ptolemy (V, 3, 6) and several Latin authors. Gaius Caesar, adopted son of Augustus, died there (Velleius Paterculus, II, 102).

The ruins of Limyra are about 5 km northeast of the town of Finike (ancient Phoenicus) in Antalya Province, Turkey. They consist of a theatre, tombs, sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, Greek and Lycian inscriptions etc. About 3 km east of the site is the Roman Bridge at Limyra, one of the oldest segmental arch bridges of the world. mes,

Ecclesiastical history

Limyra is mentioned as a bishopric in Notitiæ Episcopatuum down to the 12th and 13th centuries as a suffragan of the metropolitan of Myra.

Six bishops are known: Diotimus, mentioned by St. Basil (ep. ccxviii); Lupicinus, present at the First Council of Constantinople, 381; Stephen, at the Council of Chalcedon (451); Theodore, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553; Leo, at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; Nicephorus, at the so-called Photian Council of Constantinople (879).

In the Annuario Pontificio it is listed as a titular see of the Roman province of Lycia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limyra

www.exploreturkey.com/exptur.phtml?id=218

Antalya Museum;

www.antalyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/limyra-ruins

LMYRA VIDEO;

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIk_74e5d3c

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in the world by population. It is a city on two continents; about two-thirds of its population live in Europe and the rest in Asia. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its area of 5,461 square kilometers (2,109 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province. Under the Köppen climate classification, Istanbul's climate is considered a form of Mediterranean climate, with aspects of other temperate climate types.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in the world by population. It is a city on two continents; about two-thirds of its population live in Europe and the rest in Asia. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its area of 5,461 square kilometers (2,109 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province. Under the Köppen climate classification, Istanbul's climate is considered a form of Mediterranean climate, with aspects of other temperate climate types.

The Şehzade Mosque (Turkish: Şehzade Camii, from the original Persian شاهزاده Šāhzādeh, meaning "prince") is a 16th-century Ottoman imperial mosque located in the district of Fatih, on the third hill of Istanbul, Turkey. It was commissioned by Suleiman the Magnificent as a memorial to his son Şehzade Mehmed who died in 1543. It is sometimes referred to as the "Prince's Mosque" in English. The mosque was one of the earliest and most important works of architect Mimar Sinan and is one of the signature works of Classical Ottoman architecture.

The construction of the Şehzade Complex (külliye) was ordered by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent as a memorial to his favorite son Şehzade Mehmed (born 1521) who died in 1543 while returning to Istanbul after a victorious military campaign in Hungary. Mehmed was the eldest son of Suleiman's only legal wife Hürrem Sultan - although not his eldest son - and before his untimely death he was primed to accept the sultanate following Suleiman's reign. Suleiman is said to have personally mourned the death of Mehmed for forty days at his temporary tomb in Istanbul, the site upon which the imperial architect Mimar Sinan would construct a lavish mausoleum to Mehmed as one part of a larger mosque complex dedicated to the princely heir.

The mausoleum of Mehmed was the first element of the complex to be completed, in 1544. The mosque and the rest of the complex were built between 1545 and 1548. The complex was Sinan's first important imperial commission.

The mosque suffered some damage during the June 2016 bombing that occurred on a nearby street. Some of its windows were shattered.

Ephesus Ancient city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası. In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Aqueduct of Valens (Turkish: Valens Su Kemeri, Ancient Greek: Ἀγωγὸς τοῦ ὕδατος, romanized: Agōgós tou hýdatos, lit. 'aqueduct') was a Roman aqueduct system built in the late 4th century AD, to supply Constantinople – the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Construction of the aqueduct began during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantius II (r. 337–361) and was completed in 373 by the Emperor Valens (r. 364–378). The aqueduct remained in use for many centuries. It was extended and maintained by the Byzantines and the Ottomans.

Initially, the Aqueduct of Valens carried water from springs at Danımandere and Pınarca; the channels from each spring met at Dağyenice. This 4th-century first phase of the system was 268 kilometres (167 miles) long. A second, 5th-century phase added a further 451 kilometres (280 miles) of conduits that took water from Vize, 120 kilometres (75 miles) away from Constantinople.

The final and most visible aqueduct bridge in the system survives in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Named in Turkish: Bozdoğan Kemeri, lit. 'Aqueduct of the Grey Falcon', it is an important landmark in the city, with its arches passing over Atatürk Boulevard (Atatürk Bulvarı). The Bozdoğan Kemeri spans the valley between the hills that are today occupied by the Istanbul University and the Fatih Mosque, formerly the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles. The surviving section is 921 metres long, about 50 metres less than the original length.

The construction of a water supply system for the city of Byzantium began under the Emperor Hadrian. Constantine the Great re-founded the city and greatly expanded it which meant that demand for fresh water greatly increased.

The Valens aqueduct, which originally sourced its water from the slopes of the hills between Kağıthane and the Sea of Marmara, was merely one of the terminal points of this new wide system of aqueducts and canals—which eventually reached over 250 kilometres (160 mi) in total length, the longest such system of antiquity—that stretched throughout the hill-country of Thrace and provided the capital with water. Once in the city, the water was stored in three open reservoirs and over a hundred underground cisterns, such as the Basilica Cistern, with a combined capacity of over one million cubic metres.

The water comes from two lines from the north-east and one coming from the north-west, which join together outside the walls, near the Adrianople Gate (Edirne Kapı). Near the east end of the aqueduct there is a distribution plant, and another lies near Hagia Sophia. The water feeds the zone of the imperial palace. The daily discharge in the 1950s amounted to 6,120 cubic metres (216,000 cu ft). During Byzantine times, two roads important for the topography of medieval Constantinople crossed under the eastern section of the aqueduct.

The exact date that construction on the aqueduct began is uncertain, but it was completed in 368 AD during the reign of Valens, whose name it bears. The spectacular Bozdoğan Kemeri section lay along the valley between the third and fourth hills of Constantinople, occupied respectively at that time by the Capitolium and the Church of the Holy Apostles. According to tradition, the aqueduct bridge was built using the stones of the walls of Chalcedon, pulled down as punishment in 366 after the revolt of Procopius. The structure was inaugurated in 373 by the urban prefect Clearchus, who commissioned a Nymphaeum Maius in the Forum of Theodosius, that was supplied with water from the aqueduct. After a severe drought in 382, the Emperor Theodosius I built a new line (the Aquaeductus Theodosiacus), which took water from the north-eastern region known today as the Belgrade Forest.

In the 4th century, Gregory of Nazianzus described the Aqueduct of Valens as an "underground and aerial river" (Patristic Greek: ὁ ὑποχθόνιος καὶ τὸ ἀέριος ποταμός, romanized: ho hypokhthónios kai tò aérios potamós). According to Themistius, the first phase of the aqueduct's construction was 1,000 stadia in length – 185 kilometres (115 miles). This was thought to be an exaggeration until archaeological survey revealed the 227-kilometre (141-mile) course of the channel from Danımandere to Constantinople, with another 41-kilometre (25-mile) line to Pınarca making the total system inaugurated by Valens 268 kilometres (167 miles) long. Likewise, the claim of Hesychius of Miletus in the Patria of Constantinople that the aqueduct extended to Vize (Medieval Greek: Βιζύη, romanized: Bizyē) was correct. The second, 5th-century phase of the Aqueduct of Valens – 451 kilometres (280 mi) long – carried water from springs at Pazarlı, at Ergene, and near Binkılıç. Although the routes of the two phases were partly parallel, eventually merging at the Kumarlidere bridge, the water of the two systems was kept separate.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in the world by population. It is a city on two continents; about two-thirds of its population live in Europe and the rest in Asia. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its area of 5,461 square kilometers (2,109 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province. Under the Köppen climate classification, Istanbul's climate is considered a form of Mediterranean climate, with aspects of other temperate climate types.

Limyra (in Greek Λιμύρα) was a small city in Lycia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, on the Limyrus River, and twenty stadia from the mouth of that river.It was a prosperous city, and one of the oldest cities in lycia. The city had rich and abundant soil, and gradually became one of the finest trade settlements in Greece. Pericles adopted it as the capital of the lycian league.

It is mentioned by Strabo (XIV, 666), Ptolemy (V, 3, 6) and several Latin authors. Gaius Caesar, adopted son of Augustus, died there (Velleius Paterculus, II, 102).

The ruins of Limyra are about 5 km northeast of the town of Finike (ancient Phoenicus) in Antalya Province, Turkey. They consist of a theatre, tombs, sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, Greek and Lycian inscriptions etc. About 3 km east of the site is the Roman Bridge at Limyra, one of the oldest segmental arch bridges of the world. mes,

Ecclesiastical history

Limyra is mentioned as a bishopric in Notitiæ Episcopatuum down to the 12th and 13th centuries as a suffragan of the metropolitan of Myra.

Six bishops are known: Diotimus, mentioned by St. Basil (ep. ccxviii); Lupicinus, present at the First Council of Constantinople, 381; Stephen, at the Council of Chalcedon (451); Theodore, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553; Leo, at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; Nicephorus, at the so-called Photian Council of Constantinople (879).

In the Annuario Pontificio it is listed as a titular see of the Roman province of Lycia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limyra

www.exploreturkey.com/exptur.phtml?id=218

Antalya Museum;

www.antalyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/limyra-ruins

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, straddling the Bosporus Strait, the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has a population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe[c] and the world's sixteenth-largest city.

The city was founded as Byzantium in the 7th century BCE by Greek settlers from Megara. In 330 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital, renaming it first as New Rome (Ancient Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Rhomē; Latin: Nova Roma) and then finally as Constantinople (Constantinopolis) after himself. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν eis tḕn Pólin 'to the City', the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city.

The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. The city grew in size and influence, eventually becoming a beacon of the Silk Road and one of the most important cities in history. The city played a key role in the advancement of Christianity during Roman/Byzantine times, hosting four of the first seven ecumenical councils before its transformation to an Islamic stronghold following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE—especially after becoming the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1517.[ In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey.

Istanbul was the 2010 European Capital of Culture. The city has surpassed London and Dubai to become the most visited city in the world, with more than 20 million foreign visitors in 2023. The historic centre of Istanbul is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city hosts the headquarters of numerous Turkish companies, accounting for more than thirty percent of the country's economy.

Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE. In the European side, near the point of the peninsula (Sarayburnu) there was a settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the possible Thracian toponym Lygos, mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium.

There is evidence suggesting there were settlements around the region dating as far back as 6700 BC, and it is hard to define if there was any settlement on exact spot at city proper established, but earliest records about city proper begins around 660 BC when Greek settlers from the Attic town of Megara colonized the area and established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosphorus. It fell to the Roman Republic in 196 BC, and was known as Byzantium in Latin until 330, when the city, soon renamed as Constantinople, became the new capital of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Justinian I, the city rose to be the largest in the western world, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople functioned as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which effectively ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Turks.

The population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, once again ranking among the world's most popular cities. With the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, that country's capital moved from Constantinople to Ankara (previously Angora).

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, straddling the Bosporus Strait, the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has a population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe[c] and the world's sixteenth-largest city.

The city was founded as Byzantium in the 7th century BCE by Greek settlers from Megara. In 330 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital, renaming it first as New Rome (Ancient Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Rhomē; Latin: Nova Roma) and then finally as Constantinople (Constantinopolis) after himself. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν eis tḕn Pólin 'to the City', the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city.

The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. The city grew in size and influence, eventually becoming a beacon of the Silk Road and one of the most important cities in history. The city played a key role in the advancement of Christianity during Roman/Byzantine times, hosting four of the first seven ecumenical councils before its transformation to an Islamic stronghold following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE—especially after becoming the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1517.[ In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey.

Istanbul was the 2010 European Capital of Culture. The city has surpassed London and Dubai to become the most visited city in the world, with more than 20 million foreign visitors in 2023. The historic centre of Istanbul is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city hosts the headquarters of numerous Turkish companies, accounting for more than thirty percent of the country's economy.

Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE. In the European side, near the point of the peninsula (Sarayburnu) there was a settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the possible Thracian toponym Lygos, mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium.

There is evidence suggesting there were settlements around the region dating as far back as 6700 BC, and it is hard to define if there was any settlement on exact spot at city proper established, but earliest records about city proper begins around 660 BC when Greek settlers from the Attic town of Megara colonized the area and established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosphorus. It fell to the Roman Republic in 196 BC, and was known as Byzantium in Latin until 330, when the city, soon renamed as Constantinople, became the new capital of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Justinian I, the city rose to be the largest in the western world, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople functioned as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which effectively ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Turks.

The population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, once again ranking among the world's most popular cities. With the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, that country's capital moved from Constantinople to Ankara (previously Angora).

Limyra (in Greek Λιμύρα) was a small city in Lycia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, on the Limyrus River, and twenty stadia from the mouth of that river.It was a prosperous city, and one of the oldest cities in lycia. The city had rich and abundant soil, and gradually became one of the finest trade settlements in Greece. Pericles adopted it as the capital of the lycian league.

It is mentioned by Strabo (XIV, 666), Ptolemy (V, 3, 6) and several Latin authors. Gaius Caesar, adopted son of Augustus, died there (Velleius Paterculus, II, 102).

The ruins of Limyra are about 5 km northeast of the town of Finike (ancient Phoenicus) in Antalya Province, Turkey. They consist of a theatre, tombs, sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, Greek and Lycian inscriptions etc. About 3 km east of the site is the Roman Bridge at Limyra, one of the oldest segmental arch bridges of the world. mes,

Ecclesiastical history

Limyra is mentioned as a bishopric in Notitiæ Episcopatuum down to the 12th and 13th centuries as a suffragan of the metropolitan of Myra.

Six bishops are known: Diotimus, mentioned by St. Basil (ep. ccxviii); Lupicinus, present at the First Council of Constantinople, 381; Stephen, at the Council of Chalcedon (451); Theodore, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553; Leo, at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; Nicephorus, at the so-called Photian Council of Constantinople (879).

In the Annuario Pontificio it is listed as a titular see of the Roman province of Lycia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limyra

www.exploreturkey.com/exptur.phtml?id=218

Antalya Museum;

www.antalyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/limyra-ruins

The Little Hagia Sophia mosque (Turkish: Küçük Ayasofya Camii), formerly the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Ancient Greek: Ἐκκλησία τῶν Ἁγίων Σεργίου καὶ Βάκχου ἐν τοῖς Ὁρμίσδου, romanized: Ekklēsía tôn Hagíōn Sergíou kaì Bákchou en toîs Hormísdou), is a former Greek Orthodox church dedicated to Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople (modern Istanbul), built between 532 and 536, and converted into a mosque during the Ottoman Empire.

This Byzantine building with a central dome plan was erected in the sixth century by Justinian; despite its Turkish name, it likely was not a model for Hagia Sophia ("Holy Wisdom"), with which its construction was contemporary, but it is nonetheless one of the most important early Byzantine buildings in Istanbul. It was recognized at the time by Procopius as an adornment to the entire city, and a modern historian of the East Roman Empire has written that the church "by the originality of its architecture and the sumptuousness of its carved decoration, ranks in Constantinople second only to St Sophia itself".

The building stands in Istanbul, in the district of Fatih and in the neighbourhood of Kumkapı, at a short distance from the Marmara Sea, near the ruins of the Great Palace and to the south of the Hippodrome. It is now separated from the sea by the Sirkeci-Halkalı suburban railway line and the coastal road, Kennedy Avenue.

According to later legend, during the reign of Justin I, his nephew Justinian had been accused of plotting against the throne. He was sentenced to death, avoided after Saints Sergius and Bacchus appeared before Justin and vouched for Justinian's innocence. He was freed and restored to his title of Caesar, and in gratitude, he vowed to dedicate a church to the saints once he became emperor. The construction of this Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, between 527 and 536 AD, was one of the first acts of the reign of Justinian I.

The new church lay at the border between the First and Third Regio of the City, in an irregular area between the Palace of Hormisdas (the house of Justinian before he acceded to the throne) and the Church of the Saints Peter and Paul. Back then, the two churches shared the same narthex, atrium and propylaea. The new church became the centre of the complex, and part still survives today, towards the south of the northern wall of one of the two other edifices. The church was one of the most important religious structures in Constantinople. Shortly after the church's building a monastery bearing the same name was built near the edifice.

Construction of the new church began either shortly before or during that of Hagia Sophia, built from 532 to 537. It was believed that the building had been designed by the same architects, Isidorus of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, as a kind of "dress rehearsal" for that of the largest church of the Byzantine Empire. However, the building is quite different in architectural detail from the Hagia Sophia and the notion that it was but a small-scale version has largely been discredited. Instead, the church built by Anicia Juliana around a decade before SS. Sergius & Bacchus's construction, the Sasanian-influenced Church of St Polyeuctus - the largest church in Constantinople until Hagia Sophia's construction - was likely the most direct influence. Even so, because Anicia Juliana's St Polyeuctus, built 519–522, was not domed with brick but instead covered three opposing pairs of exhedrae with a wooden roof typical of a basilica, the immediate architectural precedent of both SS. Sergius & Bacchus and Hagia Sophia must be found in pendentive domes elsewhere, such as in the so-called Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna and the several earlier Byzantine domes rotundas and polygons whose foundations survive.

During the years 536 and 537, the Palace of Hormisdas became a Monophysite monastery, where followers of that sect, coming from the eastern regions of the Empire and escaping the persecutions against them, found protection by Empress Theodora.

In year 551 Pope Vigilius, who some years before had been summoned to Constantinople by Justinian, found refuge in the church from the soldiers of the Emperor who wanted to capture him, and this attempt caused riots. During the Iconoclastic period the monastery became one of the centres of this movement in the City.

After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the church remained untouched until the reign of Bayezid II. Then (between 1506 and 1513) it was transformed into a mosque by Hüseyin Ağa, the Chief Black Eunuch, custodian of the Bab-ı-Saadet (literally The Gate of Felicity in Ottoman Turkish) in the Sultan's residence, the Topkapı Palace. At that time the portico and madrasah were added to the church.

In 1740 the Grand Vizier Hacı Ahmet Paşa restored the mosque and built the Şadırvan (fountain). Damage caused by the earthquakes of 1648 and 1763 was repaired in 1831 under the reign of Sultan Mahmud II. In 1762 the minaret was first built. It was demolished in 1940 and built again in 1956.

The pace of decay of the building, which already suffered because of humidity and earthquakes through the centuries, accelerated after the construction of the railway. Parts of SS. Peter and Paul to the south of the building were demolished to accommodate the rail line. Other damage was caused by the building's use as housing for the refugees during the Balkan Wars.

Due to the increasing threats to the building's static integrity, it was added some years ago to the UNESCO watch list of endangered monuments. The World Monuments Fund added it to its Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in 2002, 2004, and 2006. After an extensive restoration which lasted several years and ended in September 2006, it has been opened again to the public and for worship.

The city of contrasts - where old meets new, traditional meets trendy, ancient meets modern, Asia meets Europe!

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Come check out the unique and vibrant Istanbul at www.join-our-journeys.com/istanbul.html

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Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, straddling the Bosporus Strait, the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has a population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe[c] and the world's sixteenth-largest city.

The city was founded as Byzantium in the 7th century BCE by Greek settlers from Megara. In 330 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital, renaming it first as New Rome (Ancient Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Rhomē; Latin: Nova Roma) and then finally as Constantinople (Constantinopolis) after himself. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν eis tḕn Pólin 'to the City', the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city.

The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. The city grew in size and influence, eventually becoming a beacon of the Silk Road and one of the most important cities in history. The city played a key role in the advancement of Christianity during Roman/Byzantine times, hosting four of the first seven ecumenical councils before its transformation to an Islamic stronghold following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE—especially after becoming the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1517.[ In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey.

Istanbul was the 2010 European Capital of Culture. The city has surpassed London and Dubai to become the most visited city in the world, with more than 20 million foreign visitors in 2023. The historic centre of Istanbul is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city hosts the headquarters of numerous Turkish companies, accounting for more than thirty percent of the country's economy.

Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE. In the European side, near the point of the peninsula (Sarayburnu) there was a settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the possible Thracian toponym Lygos, mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium.

There is evidence suggesting there were settlements around the region dating as far back as 6700 BC, and it is hard to define if there was any settlement on exact spot at city proper established, but earliest records about city proper begins around 660 BC when Greek settlers from the Attic town of Megara colonized the area and established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosphorus. It fell to the Roman Republic in 196 BC, and was known as Byzantium in Latin until 330, when the city, soon renamed as Constantinople, became the new capital of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Justinian I, the city rose to be the largest in the western world, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople functioned as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which effectively ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Turks.

The population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, once again ranking among the world's most popular cities. With the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, that country's capital moved from Constantinople to Ankara (previously Angora).

The Blue Mosque, officially the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii), is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today. It also attracts a large number of tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture.

The mosque has a classical Ottoman layout with a central dome surrounded by four semi-domes over the prayer hall. It is fronted by a large courtyard and flanked by six minarets. On the inside, it is decorated with thousands of Iznik tiles and painted floral motifs in predominantly blue colours, which give the mosque its popular name. The mosque's külliye (religious complex) includes Ahmed's tomb, a madrasa, and several other buildings in various states of preservation.

The mosque was built next to the former Hippodrome and stands across from the Hagia Sophia, another popular tourist site. The Blue Mosque was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1985 under the name of "Historic Areas of Istanbul".

After the Peace of Zsitvatorok, seen as a blow to Ottoman prestige, Sultan Ahmed I decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul in the hope of soliciting God's favour. He was the first sultan to build an imperial mosque since Selim II (d. 1574), as both Murad III and Mehmed III before him had neglected to construct their own.

The mosque was built on the southeast side of the old Byzantine Hippodrome, near the Hagia Sophia (the most important mosque of the Ottoman Empire), a site of significant symbolic significance that allows it to dominate the city's skyline. The mosque's location was originally occupied by the Hippodrome's bleachers and its imperial box (where the emperor sat when attending events here). During excavations in the early 20th century, some of the ancient seats were discovered in the mosque's courtyard. Given the mosque's location, size, and number of minarets, it is probable that Sultan Ahmed intended to create a monument that rivalled or surpassed the Hagia Sophia.

Prior to construction, this site was occupied by the palaces of several Ottoman viziers, including Sokollu Mehmet Pasha and Güzel Ahmet Pasha, which required a costly expropriation process. This, along with the fact that the empire was under economic stress, aroused the protests of the ulema (Islamic legal scholars), who argued that sultans should only fund the construction of an imperial mosque with spoils of conquest. Ahmed I had won no major victories and thus had to divert funds from the treasury for this expensive project. The ulema went so far as to forbid Muslims from praying at the mosque.

Despite the opposition, the sultan went ahead with the project. Construction started in 1609 and completed in 1617, when the opening ceremony was held, though the year 1616 is mentioned on some of the mosque's inscriptions. Ahmed I died around the same time or very soon afterwards in 1617. Scholar Godfrey Goodwin notes that the last accounting reports on the mosque's construction were signed by Mustafa I, Ahmed I's successor, which suggests that Ahmed I had died before the final completion of the project.

In the end, the mosque's grandeur, its luxurious decoration, and the elaborate public ceremonies that Ahmed I organized to celebrate the project appear to have swayed public opinion and overcome the initial controversy over its construction. It became one of the most popular mosques in the city. The mosque has left a major mark on the city and has given its name to the surrounding neighbourhood, now known as Sultanahmet.

In 1883, much of the mosque interior's painted decoration was replaced by new stenciled paintwork, some of which changed the original colour scheme. A major fire in 1912 damaged or destroyed several of the outlying structures of the mosque complex, which were subsequently restored.

A major restoration of the mosque took place in the 21st century. During preparatory work in 2013, it was discovered that the mosque's northwest minaret had shifted 5 centimetres (2.0 in) over time, constituting a potential threat to its structural stability. Work to reconstruct and repair the minaret was underway in 2015. Comprehensive restoration work on the rest of the mosque began in 2018 and was finished in April 2023.

The Aqueduct of Valens (Turkish: Valens Su Kemeri, Ancient Greek: Ἀγωγὸς τοῦ ὕδατος, romanized: Agōgós tou hýdatos, lit. 'aqueduct') was a Roman aqueduct system built in the late 4th century AD, to supply Constantinople – the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Construction of the aqueduct began during the reign of the Roman emperor Constantius II (r. 337–361) and was completed in 373 by the Emperor Valens (r. 364–378). The aqueduct remained in use for many centuries. It was extended and maintained by the Byzantines and the Ottomans.

Initially, the Aqueduct of Valens carried water from springs at Danımandere and Pınarca; the channels from each spring met at Dağyenice. This 4th-century first phase of the system was 268 kilometres (167 miles) long. A second, 5th-century phase added a further 451 kilometres (280 miles) of conduits that took water from Vize, 120 kilometres (75 miles) away from Constantinople.

The final and most visible aqueduct bridge in the system survives in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. Named in Turkish: Bozdoğan Kemeri, lit. 'Aqueduct of the Grey Falcon', it is an important landmark in the city, with its arches passing over Atatürk Boulevard (Atatürk Bulvarı). The Bozdoğan Kemeri spans the valley between the hills that are today occupied by the Istanbul University and the Fatih Mosque, formerly the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles. The surviving section is 921 metres long, about 50 metres less than the original length.

The construction of a water supply system for the city of Byzantium began under the Emperor Hadrian. Constantine the Great re-founded the city and greatly expanded it which meant that demand for fresh water greatly increased.

The Valens aqueduct, which originally sourced its water from the slopes of the hills between Kağıthane and the Sea of Marmara, was merely one of the terminal points of this new wide system of aqueducts and canals—which eventually reached over 250 kilometres (160 mi) in total length, the longest such system of antiquity—that stretched throughout the hill-country of Thrace and provided the capital with water. Once in the city, the water was stored in three open reservoirs and over a hundred underground cisterns, such as the Basilica Cistern, with a combined capacity of over one million cubic metres.

The water comes from two lines from the north-east and one coming from the north-west, which join together outside the walls, near the Adrianople Gate (Edirne Kapı). Near the east end of the aqueduct there is a distribution plant, and another lies near Hagia Sophia. The water feeds the zone of the imperial palace. The daily discharge in the 1950s amounted to 6,120 cubic metres (216,000 cu ft). During Byzantine times, two roads important for the topography of medieval Constantinople crossed under the eastern section of the aqueduct.

The exact date that construction on the aqueduct began is uncertain, but it was completed in 368 AD during the reign of Valens, whose name it bears. The spectacular Bozdoğan Kemeri section lay along the valley between the third and fourth hills of Constantinople, occupied respectively at that time by the Capitolium and the Church of the Holy Apostles. According to tradition, the aqueduct bridge was built using the stones of the walls of Chalcedon, pulled down as punishment in 366 after the revolt of Procopius. The structure was inaugurated in 373 by the urban prefect Clearchus, who commissioned a Nymphaeum Maius in the Forum of Theodosius, that was supplied with water from the aqueduct. After a severe drought in 382, the Emperor Theodosius I built a new line (the Aquaeductus Theodosiacus), which took water from the north-eastern region known today as the Belgrade Forest.

In the 4th century, Gregory of Nazianzus described the Aqueduct of Valens as an "underground and aerial river" (Patristic Greek: ὁ ὑποχθόνιος καὶ τὸ ἀέριος ποταμός, romanized: ho hypokhthónios kai tò aérios potamós). According to Themistius, the first phase of the aqueduct's construction was 1,000 stadia in length – 185 kilometres (115 miles). This was thought to be an exaggeration until archaeological survey revealed the 227-kilometre (141-mile) course of the channel from Danımandere to Constantinople, with another 41-kilometre (25-mile) line to Pınarca making the total system inaugurated by Valens 268 kilometres (167 miles) long. Likewise, the claim of Hesychius of Miletus in the Patria of Constantinople that the aqueduct extended to Vize (Medieval Greek: Βιζύη, romanized: Bizyē) was correct. The second, 5th-century phase of the Aqueduct of Valens – 451 kilometres (280 mi) long – carried water from springs at Pazarlı, at Ergene, and near Binkılıç. Although the routes of the two phases were partly parallel, eventually merging at the Kumarlidere bridge, the water of the two systems was kept separate.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in the world by population. It is a city on two continents; about two-thirds of its population live in Europe and the rest in Asia. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its area of 5,461 square kilometers (2,109 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province. Under the Köppen climate classification, Istanbul's climate is considered a form of Mediterranean climate, with aspects of other temperate climate types.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population over 15 million, it is home to 18% of the population of Turkey. Istanbul is among the largest cities in Europe and in the world by population. It is a city on two continents; about two-thirds of its population live in Europe and the rest in Asia. Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus—one of the world's busiest waterways—in northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its area of 5,461 square kilometers (2,109 sq mi) is coterminous with Istanbul Province. Under the Köppen climate classification, Istanbul's climate is considered a form of Mediterranean climate, with aspects of other temperate climate types.

Ankara is the capital city of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of over 5,200,000 in its urban center and 5,864,049 in Ankara Province (total of 25 districts). Ankara is Turkey's second-largest city by population after Istanbul.

Ankara was historically known as Ancyra[d] and Angora. Serving as the capital of the ancient Celtic state of Galatia (280–64 BC), and later of the Roman province with the same name (25 BC–7th century), Ankara has various Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Phrygian, Galatian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archeological sites. The Ottomans made the city the capital first of the Anatolia Eyalet (1393 – late 15th century) and then the Angora Eyalet (1827–1864) and the Angora Vilayet (1867–1922). On 23 April 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was established in Ankara, which became the headquarters of the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence. Ankara became the new Turkish capital upon the establishment of the Republic on 29 October 1923, succeeding in this role as the former Ottoman capital Istanbul following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The historical center of Ankara is a rocky hill rising 150 m (500 ft) over the left bank of the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of Ankara Castle. Few of its outworks have survived, but there are well-preserved examples of Roman and Ottoman architecture throughout the city.

The government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city located at the center of Turkey's road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat (the source of mohair), and the Angora cat. The area is also known for its pears, honey and Muscat grapes. Although situated in one of the driest regions of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation (except for the forested areas on the southern periphery), Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, at 72 square meters (775 square feet) per head. Home to numerous universities, Ankara is among the top 100 science and technology clusters in the world.

The House of the Virgin Mary is a Catholic shrine located on Mt. Koressos (Turkish: Bülbüldağı, "Mount Nightingale") in the vicinity of Ephesus, 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from Selçuk in Turkey.

The house was discovered in the 19th century by following the descriptions in the reported visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), a Roman Catholic nun and visionary, which were published as a book by Clemens Brentano after her death. While the Catholic Church has never pronounced in favour or against the authenticity of the house, the site has nevertheless received a steady flow of pilgrimage since its discovery. Anne Catherine Emmerich was beatified by Pope John Paul II on October 3, 2004.

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası. In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Wizz Air Holdings Plc., stylized as W!ZZ, is a Hungarian ultra low-cost carrier group headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. The company includes subsidiaries Wizz Air Hungary, Wizz Air Malta, and Wizz Air UK. The airlines serve numerous cities across Europe, as well as some destinations in North Africa, the Middle East, and South and Central Asia. As of 2023, the airline group has its largest bases at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport, and London Luton Airport and flies to 194 airports.

Ankara is the capital city of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of over 5,200,000 in its urban center and 5,864,049 in Ankara Province (total of 25 districts). Ankara is Turkey's second-largest city by population after Istanbul.

Ankara was historically known as Ancyra[d] and Angora. Serving as the capital of the ancient Celtic state of Galatia (280–64 BC), and later of the Roman province with the same name (25 BC–7th century), Ankara has various Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Phrygian, Galatian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archeological sites. The Ottomans made the city the capital first of the Anatolia Eyalet (1393 – late 15th century) and then the Angora Eyalet (1827–1864) and the Angora Vilayet (1867–1922). On 23 April 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was established in Ankara, which became the headquarters of the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence. Ankara became the new Turkish capital upon the establishment of the Republic on 29 October 1923, succeeding in this role as the former Ottoman capital Istanbul following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The historical center of Ankara is a rocky hill rising 150 m (500 ft) over the left bank of the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of Ankara Castle. Few of its outworks have survived, but there are well-preserved examples of Roman and Ottoman architecture throughout the city.

The government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city located at the center of Turkey's road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat (the source of mohair), and the Angora cat. The area is also known for its pears, honey and Muscat grapes. Although situated in one of the driest regions of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation (except for the forested areas on the southern periphery), Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, at 72 square meters (775 square feet) per head. Home to numerous universities, Ankara is among the top 100 science and technology clusters in the world.

Ankara is the capital city of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of over 5,200,000 in its urban center and 5,864,049 in Ankara Province (total of 25 districts). Ankara is Turkey's second-largest city by population after Istanbul.

Ankara was historically known as Ancyra[d] and Angora. Serving as the capital of the ancient Celtic state of Galatia (280–64 BC), and later of the Roman province with the same name (25 BC–7th century), Ankara has various Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Phrygian, Galatian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archeological sites. The Ottomans made the city the capital first of the Anatolia Eyalet (1393 – late 15th century) and then the Angora Eyalet (1827–1864) and the Angora Vilayet (1867–1922). On 23 April 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was established in Ankara, which became the headquarters of the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence. Ankara became the new Turkish capital upon the establishment of the Republic on 29 October 1923, succeeding in this role as the former Ottoman capital Istanbul following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The historical center of Ankara is a rocky hill rising 150 m (500 ft) over the left bank of the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of Ankara Castle. Few of its outworks have survived, but there are well-preserved examples of Roman and Ottoman architecture throughout the city.

The government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city located at the center of Turkey's road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat (the source of mohair), and the Angora cat. The area is also known for its pears, honey and Muscat grapes. Although situated in one of the driest regions of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation (except for the forested areas on the southern periphery), Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, at 72 square meters (775 square feet) per head. Home to numerous universities, Ankara is among the top 100 science and technology clusters in the world.

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İskenderpaşa is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Fatih, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 12,024 (2022). It is in the European part of Istanbul. It is considered one of the most visited areas of Istanbul, as it is located near the shopping center of the city.

Sites

Historia Shopping and Life Center: an indoor shopping center with a fountain, a variety of shops, restaurants, a cinema and a food court.

Kıztaşı(Maidenstone): located in the middle of a small square in Fatih district, the structure consists of an 8.75 m high column erected in two pieces of red-gray Egyptian marble brought from Aswan (Syene) and a 2.35 m high quadrilateral pedestal.

Pertevniyal Valide Sultan Mosque: a grand Ottoman imperial mosque built by Pertevniyal Valide Sultan, the wife of Sultan Mahmut II and the mother of Sultan Abdulaziz.

Saraçhane Archaeological Park: the artifacts displayed in the Sarachkhane Archaeological Park were discovered during the excavation of a new boulevard, the construction of which began on the orders of the then Prime Minister Adnan Menderes in the late 1950s.

Limyra (in Greek Λιμύρα) was a small city in Lycia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, on the Limyrus River, and twenty stadia from the mouth of that river.It was a prosperous city, and one of the oldest cities in lycia. The city had rich and abundant soil, and gradually became one of the finest trade settlements in Greece. Pericles adopted it as the capital of the lycian league.

It is mentioned by Strabo (XIV, 666), Ptolemy (V, 3, 6) and several Latin authors. Gaius Caesar, adopted son of Augustus, died there (Velleius Paterculus, II, 102).

The ruins of Limyra are about 5 km northeast of the town of Finike (ancient Phoenicus) in Antalya Province, Turkey. They consist of a theatre, tombs, sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, Greek and Lycian inscriptions etc. About 3 km east of the site is the Roman Bridge at Limyra, one of the oldest segmental arch bridges of the world. mes,

Ecclesiastical history

Limyra is mentioned as a bishopric in Notitiæ Episcopatuum down to the 12th and 13th centuries as a suffragan of the metropolitan of Myra.

Six bishops are known: Diotimus, mentioned by St. Basil (ep. ccxviii); Lupicinus, present at the First Council of Constantinople, 381; Stephen, at the Council of Chalcedon (451); Theodore, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553; Leo, at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; Nicephorus, at the so-called Photian Council of Constantinople (879).

In the Annuario Pontificio it is listed as a titular see of the Roman province of Lycia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limyra

www.exploreturkey.com/exptur.phtml?id=218

Antalya Museum;

www.antalyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/limyra-ruins

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası. In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The German Fountain (Turkish: Alman Çeşmesi; German: Deutscher Brunnen) is a gazebo styled fountain in the northern end of old hippodrome (Sultanahmet Square), Istanbul, Turkey and across from the Mausoleum of Sultan Ahmed I. It was constructed to commemorate the second anniversary of German Emperor Wilhelm II's visit to Istanbul in 1898. It was built in Germany, then transported piece by piece and assembled in its current site in 1900. The neo-Byzantine style fountain's octagonal dome has eight marble columns, and dome's interior is covered with golden mosaics.

The idea of Great Palace of Constantinople's Empire Lodge (Kathisma) being on the site of the German Fountain's, conflicts with the view that Carceres Gates of Hippodrome was found on the site of the fountain however, the hypothesis of Carceres Gates being on the site enforces the view that Quadriga of Lysippos was used to stand on the site of the German Fountain.

During his reign as German Emperor and King of Prussia, Wilhelm II visited several European and Eastern countries. His trip started in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire on 18 October 1898 during the reign of Abdülhamid II. According to Peter Hopkirk, the visit to Ottoman Empire was an ego trip and also had long-term motivations. The Emperor's primary motivation for visiting was to construct the Baghdad Railway, which would run from Berlin to the Persian Gulf, and would further connect to British India through Persia. This railway could provide a short and quick route from Europe to Asia, and could carry German exports, troops and artillery. At the time, the Ottoman Empire could not afford such a railway, and Abdülhamid II was grateful to Wilhelm's offer, but was suspicious over the German motives. Abdülhamid II's secret service believed that German archeologists in the Emperor's retinue were in fact geologists with designs on the oil wealth of the Ottoman empire. Later, the secret service uncovered a German report, which noted that the oilfields in Mosul, northern Mesopotamia were richer than that in the Caucuses. In his first visit, Wilhelm secured the sale of German-made rifles to Ottoman Army, and in his second visit he secured a promise for German companies to construct the Istanbul-Baghdad railway. The German Government constructed the German Fountain for Wilhelm II and Empress Augusta's 1898 Istanbul visit. According to Afife Batur, the fountain's plans were drawn by architect Spitta and constructed by architect Schoele, also German architect Carlitzik and Italian architect Joseph Anthony worked on this project.

According to the Ottoman inscription, the fountain's construction started in the Hejira 1319 (1898–1899), although the inauguration of the fountain was planned to take place on 1 September 1900 – the 25th anniversary of Abdülhamid II's ascension to the throne. Construction, however, could not finish at the planned time and it was instead inaugurated on 27 January 1901, which was Wilhelm II's birthdate. Marble, stone and gem parts of the fountain were constructed in Germany and transported piece by piece to Istanbul by ships.

The German Fountain was constructed on the site where there was a tree which is known as Vakvak Tree (Turkish: Vakvak Ağacı) or The Bloody Plane (Turkish: Kanlı Çınar). In the 1656 janissary rebellion, Mehmed IV yielded a number of officials to the demands of the rebels and these victims, when killed, were suspended on the Plane in the Hippodrome. Boynuyaralı Mehmed Pasha overcame this rebellion, which took two months and named Vak'a-i Vakvakiye, after becoming Grand Vizier. The plane named after Seçere-i Vakvak (Vakvak Tree) which believed to be in Jahannam and its fruits are human heads.

The neo-Byzantine style octagonal fountain stands on a base with eight steps rising up to an entry gate. There are seven brass fountain spouts over basins on the remaining sides, and over the central reservoir there is a dome supported by eight porphyry columns. The fountain's central reservoir stands on a mosaic-tiled platform and surmounted with the bronze dome, which is raised on carved marble arches. There are eight monograms in the arch stonework and they represent the political union of Abdülhamid II and Wilhelm. In four of these medallions, Abdülhamid II's tughra is written on green background, and in other four Wilhelm's symbol "W" is written on a Prussian blue background. Also, over "W" there is a crown and below it a "II" is written. The fountain was surrounded with a bronze fence, but unfortunately this has been lost. The outside of the dome is ornately patterned bronze; the dome's ceiling is decorated with golden mosaics and again with Abdülhamid II's tughra and Wilhelm II's symbol.

The bronze inscription on the reservoir, which was written in German, reads "Wilhelm II Deutscher Kaiser stiftete diesen Brunnen in dankbarer Erinnerung an seinen Besuch bei Seiner Maiestaet [sic] dem Kaiser der Osmanen Abdul Hamid II im Herbst des Jahres 1898" meaning "German Kaiser Wilhelm II endowed this fountain, in thankful remembrance of his visit to the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II in autumn of the year 1898". There is also an Ottoman inscription in the arch of fountain, Undersecretary of Seraskery Ahmet Muhtar Bey's eight couplet history verse is written by Hattat İzzet Efendi.[6] The poem commemorates the construction of the fountain for Wilhelm II's visit to Istanbul.

The German fountain was the site of a terrorist bombing which killed 13 people (12 of them German) and injured many more on 12 January 2016.

The Blue Mosque, officially the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii), is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today. It also attracts a large number of tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture.

The mosque has a classical Ottoman layout with a central dome surrounded by four semi-domes over the prayer hall. It is fronted by a large courtyard and flanked by six minarets. On the inside, it is decorated with thousands of Iznik tiles and painted floral motifs in predominantly blue colours, which give the mosque its popular name. The mosque's külliye (religious complex) includes Ahmed's tomb, a madrasa, and several other buildings in various states of preservation.

The mosque was built next to the former Hippodrome and stands across from the Hagia Sophia, another popular tourist site. The Blue Mosque was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1985 under the name of "Historic Areas of Istanbul".

After the Peace of Zsitvatorok, seen as a blow to Ottoman prestige, Sultan Ahmed I decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul in the hope of soliciting God's favour. He was the first sultan to build an imperial mosque since Selim II (d. 1574), as both Murad III and Mehmed III before him had neglected to construct their own.

The mosque was built on the southeast side of the old Byzantine Hippodrome, near the Hagia Sophia (the most important mosque of the Ottoman Empire), a site of significant symbolic significance that allows it to dominate the city's skyline. The mosque's location was originally occupied by the Hippodrome's bleachers and its imperial box (where the emperor sat when attending events here). During excavations in the early 20th century, some of the ancient seats were discovered in the mosque's courtyard. Given the mosque's location, size, and number of minarets, it is probable that Sultan Ahmed intended to create a monument that rivalled or surpassed the Hagia Sophia.

Prior to construction, this site was occupied by the palaces of several Ottoman viziers, including Sokollu Mehmet Pasha and Güzel Ahmet Pasha, which required a costly expropriation process. This, along with the fact that the empire was under economic stress, aroused the protests of the ulema (Islamic legal scholars), who argued that sultans should only fund the construction of an imperial mosque with spoils of conquest. Ahmed I had won no major victories and thus had to divert funds from the treasury for this expensive project. The ulema went so far as to forbid Muslims from praying at the mosque.

Despite the opposition, the sultan went ahead with the project. Construction started in 1609 and completed in 1617, when the opening ceremony was held, though the year 1616 is mentioned on some of the mosque's inscriptions. Ahmed I died around the same time or very soon afterwards in 1617. Scholar Godfrey Goodwin notes that the last accounting reports on the mosque's construction were signed by Mustafa I, Ahmed I's successor, which suggests that Ahmed I had died before the final completion of the project.

In the end, the mosque's grandeur, its luxurious decoration, and the elaborate public ceremonies that Ahmed I organized to celebrate the project appear to have swayed public opinion and overcome the initial controversy over its construction. It became one of the most popular mosques in the city. The mosque has left a major mark on the city and has given its name to the surrounding neighbourhood, now known as Sultanahmet.

In 1883, much of the mosque interior's painted decoration was replaced by new stenciled paintwork, some of which changed the original colour scheme. A major fire in 1912 damaged or destroyed several of the outlying structures of the mosque complex, which were subsequently restored.

A major restoration of the mosque took place in the 21st century. During preparatory work in 2013, it was discovered that the mosque's northwest minaret had shifted 5 centimetres (2.0 in) over time, constituting a potential threat to its structural stability. Work to reconstruct and repair the minaret was underway in 2015. Comprehensive restoration work on the rest of the mosque began in 2018 and was finished in April 2023.

Ankara is the capital city of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of over 5,200,000 in its urban center and 5,864,049 in Ankara Province (total of 25 districts). Ankara is Turkey's second-largest city by population after Istanbul.

Ankara was historically known as Ancyra[d] and Angora. Serving as the capital of the ancient Celtic state of Galatia (280–64 BC), and later of the Roman province with the same name (25 BC–7th century), Ankara has various Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Phrygian, Galatian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archeological sites. The Ottomans made the city the capital first of the Anatolia Eyalet (1393 – late 15th century) and then the Angora Eyalet (1827–1864) and the Angora Vilayet (1867–1922). On 23 April 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was established in Ankara, which became the headquarters of the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence. Ankara became the new Turkish capital upon the establishment of the Republic on 29 October 1923, succeeding in this role as the former Ottoman capital Istanbul following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The historical center of Ankara is a rocky hill rising 150 m (500 ft) over the left bank of the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of Ankara Castle. Few of its outworks have survived, but there are well-preserved examples of Roman and Ottoman architecture throughout the city.

The government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city located at the center of Turkey's road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat (the source of mohair), and the Angora cat. The area is also known for its pears, honey and Muscat grapes. Although situated in one of the driest regions of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation (except for the forested areas on the southern periphery), Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, at 72 square meters (775 square feet) per head. Home to numerous universities, Ankara is among the top 100 science and technology clusters in the world.

Ankara is the capital city of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of over 5,200,000 in its urban center and 5,864,049 in Ankara Province (total of 25 districts). Ankara is Turkey's second-largest city by population after Istanbul.

Ankara was historically known as Ancyra[d] and Angora. Serving as the capital of the ancient Celtic state of Galatia (280–64 BC), and later of the Roman province with the same name (25 BC–7th century), Ankara has various Hattian, Hittite, Lydian, Phrygian, Galatian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman archeological sites. The Ottomans made the city the capital first of the Anatolia Eyalet (1393 – late 15th century) and then the Angora Eyalet (1827–1864) and the Angora Vilayet (1867–1922). On 23 April 1920, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was established in Ankara, which became the headquarters of the Turkish National Movement during the Turkish War of Independence. Ankara became the new Turkish capital upon the establishment of the Republic on 29 October 1923, succeeding in this role as the former Ottoman capital Istanbul following the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The historical center of Ankara is a rocky hill rising 150 m (500 ft) over the left bank of the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya River. The hill remains crowned by the ruins of Ankara Castle. Few of its outworks have survived, but there are well-preserved examples of Roman and Ottoman architecture throughout the city.

The government is a prominent employer, but Ankara is also an important commercial and industrial city located at the center of Turkey's road and railway networks. The city gave its name to the Angora wool shorn from Angora rabbits, the long-haired Angora goat (the source of mohair), and the Angora cat. The area is also known for its pears, honey and Muscat grapes. Although situated in one of the driest regions of Turkey and surrounded mostly by steppe vegetation (except for the forested areas on the southern periphery), Ankara can be considered a green city in terms of green areas per inhabitant, at 72 square meters (775 square feet) per head. Home to numerous universities, Ankara is among the top 100 science and technology clusters in the world.

İçmeler is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Marmaris, Muğla Province, Turkey. Its population is 6,735 (2022). Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town (belde). It is a popular holiday resort situated 8 kilometres southwest of Marmaris. İçmeler Bay is located on the Datça Peninsula. The town is surrounded on three sides by pine forests. Hiking on the mountains is very popular and provides fantastic views of the region.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, straddling the Bosporus Strait, the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has a population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe[c] and the world's sixteenth-largest city.

The city was founded as Byzantium in the 7th century BCE by Greek settlers from Megara. In 330 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital, renaming it first as New Rome (Ancient Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Rhomē; Latin: Nova Roma) and then finally as Constantinople (Constantinopolis) after himself. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν eis tḕn Pólin 'to the City', the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city.

The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. The city grew in size and influence, eventually becoming a beacon of the Silk Road and one of the most important cities in history. The city played a key role in the advancement of Christianity during Roman/Byzantine times, hosting four of the first seven ecumenical councils before its transformation to an Islamic stronghold following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE—especially after becoming the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1517.[ In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey.

Istanbul was the 2010 European Capital of Culture. The city has surpassed London and Dubai to become the most visited city in the world, with more than 20 million foreign visitors in 2023. The historic centre of Istanbul is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city hosts the headquarters of numerous Turkish companies, accounting for more than thirty percent of the country's economy.

Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE. In the European side, near the point of the peninsula (Sarayburnu) there was a settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the possible Thracian toponym Lygos, mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium.

There is evidence suggesting there were settlements around the region dating as far back as 6700 BC, and it is hard to define if there was any settlement on exact spot at city proper established, but earliest records about city proper begins around 660 BC when Greek settlers from the Attic town of Megara colonized the area and established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosphorus. It fell to the Roman Republic in 196 BC, and was known as Byzantium in Latin until 330, when the city, soon renamed as Constantinople, became the new capital of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Justinian I, the city rose to be the largest in the western world, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople functioned as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which effectively ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Turks.

The population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, once again ranking among the world's most popular cities. With the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, that country's capital moved from Constantinople to Ankara (previously Angora).

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası. In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Limyra (in Greek Λιμύρα) was a small city in Lycia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, on the Limyrus River, and twenty stadia from the mouth of that river.It was a prosperous city, and one of the oldest cities in lycia. The city had rich and abundant soil, and gradually became one of the finest trade settlements in Greece. Pericles adopted it as the capital of the lycian league.

It is mentioned by Strabo (XIV, 666), Ptolemy (V, 3, 6) and several Latin authors. Gaius Caesar, adopted son of Augustus, died there (Velleius Paterculus, II, 102).

The ruins of Limyra are about 5 km northeast of the town of Finike (ancient Phoenicus) in Antalya Province, Turkey. They consist of a theatre, tombs, sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, Greek and Lycian inscriptions etc. About 3 km east of the site is the Roman Bridge at Limyra, one of the oldest segmental arch bridges of the world. mes,

Ecclesiastical history

Limyra is mentioned as a bishopric in Notitiæ Episcopatuum down to the 12th and 13th centuries as a suffragan of the metropolitan of Myra.

Six bishops are known: Diotimus, mentioned by St. Basil (ep. ccxviii); Lupicinus, present at the First Council of Constantinople, 381; Stephen, at the Council of Chalcedon (451); Theodore, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553; Leo, at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; Nicephorus, at the so-called Photian Council of Constantinople (879).

In the Annuario Pontificio it is listed as a titular see of the Roman province of Lycia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limyra

www.exploreturkey.com/exptur.phtml?id=218

Antalya Museum;

www.antalyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/limyra-ruins

The Blue Mosque, officially the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Turkish: Sultan Ahmet Camii), is an Ottoman-era historical imperial mosque located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was constructed between 1609 and 1617 during the rule of Ahmed I and remains a functioning mosque today. It also attracts a large number of tourists and is one of the most iconic and popular monuments of Ottoman architecture.

The mosque has a classical Ottoman layout with a central dome surrounded by four semi-domes over the prayer hall. It is fronted by a large courtyard and flanked by six minarets. On the inside, it is decorated with thousands of Iznik tiles and painted floral motifs in predominantly blue colours, which give the mosque its popular name. The mosque's külliye (religious complex) includes Ahmed's tomb, a madrasa, and several other buildings in various states of preservation.

The mosque was built next to the former Hippodrome and stands across from the Hagia Sophia, another popular tourist site. The Blue Mosque was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1985 under the name of "Historic Areas of Istanbul".

After the Peace of Zsitvatorok, seen as a blow to Ottoman prestige, Sultan Ahmed I decided to build a large mosque in Istanbul in the hope of soliciting God's favour. He was the first sultan to build an imperial mosque since Selim II (d. 1574), as both Murad III and Mehmed III before him had neglected to construct their own.

The mosque was built on the southeast side of the old Byzantine Hippodrome, near the Hagia Sophia (the most important mosque of the Ottoman Empire), a site of significant symbolic significance that allows it to dominate the city's skyline. The mosque's location was originally occupied by the Hippodrome's bleachers and its imperial box (where the emperor sat when attending events here). During excavations in the early 20th century, some of the ancient seats were discovered in the mosque's courtyard. Given the mosque's location, size, and number of minarets, it is probable that Sultan Ahmed intended to create a monument that rivalled or surpassed the Hagia Sophia.

Prior to construction, this site was occupied by the palaces of several Ottoman viziers, including Sokollu Mehmet Pasha and Güzel Ahmet Pasha, which required a costly expropriation process. This, along with the fact that the empire was under economic stress, aroused the protests of the ulema (Islamic legal scholars), who argued that sultans should only fund the construction of an imperial mosque with spoils of conquest. Ahmed I had won no major victories and thus had to divert funds from the treasury for this expensive project. The ulema went so far as to forbid Muslims from praying at the mosque.

Despite the opposition, the sultan went ahead with the project. Construction started in 1609 and completed in 1617, when the opening ceremony was held, though the year 1616 is mentioned on some of the mosque's inscriptions. Ahmed I died around the same time or very soon afterwards in 1617. Scholar Godfrey Goodwin notes that the last accounting reports on the mosque's construction were signed by Mustafa I, Ahmed I's successor, which suggests that Ahmed I had died before the final completion of the project.

In the end, the mosque's grandeur, its luxurious decoration, and the elaborate public ceremonies that Ahmed I organized to celebrate the project appear to have swayed public opinion and overcome the initial controversy over its construction. It became one of the most popular mosques in the city. The mosque has left a major mark on the city and has given its name to the surrounding neighbourhood, now known as Sultanahmet.

In 1883, much of the mosque interior's painted decoration was replaced by new stenciled paintwork, some of which changed the original colour scheme. A major fire in 1912 damaged or destroyed several of the outlying structures of the mosque complex, which were subsequently restored.

A major restoration of the mosque took place in the 21st century. During preparatory work in 2013, it was discovered that the mosque's northwest minaret had shifted 5 centimetres (2.0 in) over time, constituting a potential threat to its structural stability. Work to reconstruct and repair the minaret was underway in 2015. Comprehensive restoration work on the rest of the mosque began in 2018 and was finished in April 2023.

The Fatih Mosque (Turkish: Fatih Camii, "Conqueror's Mosque" in English) is an Ottoman mosque off Fevzi Paşa Caddesi in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. The original mosque was constructed between 1463 and 1470 on the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles. Seriously damaged in the 1766 earthquake, it was rebuilt in 1771 to a different design. It is named after the Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, known in Turkish as Fatih Sultan Mehmed, who conquered Constantinople in 1453.

The Sahn-ı Seman Medrese, once an important center for the study of theology, law, medicine, astronomy, physics and mathematics, formed part of the Fatih Mosque. It was founded by the Turkic astronomer Ali Qushji who had been invited by Mehmed to his court in Istanbul.

The mosque complex was completely restored in 2009 and again ten years later. It reopened to worshippers in 2021.

The Fatih Mosque complex was a religious and social building of unprecedented size and complexity built in Istanbul between 1463 and 1470 by order of Mehmed II. The 4th-century Church of the Holy Apostles was demolished to make way for the mosque. The Byzantine church had fallen into disrepair since the Fourth Crusade. Even though it was the cathedral church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarch was not permitted to carry out essential repairs to the structure. The church was the burial place of numerous Roman emperors, including Constantine the Great. Before the construction of the mosque, his sarcophagus had been placed in the middle of twelve other sarchophagi representing the Twelve Apostles, in the symbolic place of Christ.

The Fatih Mosque was the first monumental project in the Ottoman imperial architectural tradition. It was built by the Greek architect Atik Sinan.

The original complex included eight medreses, a library, a hospital (darüşşifa), a dervish inn (taphane), a caravanserai, a market, a hamam, a primary school (mektep) a public kitchen (imaret) for poor and a collection of 280 shops. Various tombs (türbes) were added at a later date. The original complex covered an almost square area of 325 metres (1,066 feet) extending along the Golden Horn side of Fevzi Paşa Caddesi.

The first mosque was badly damaged in the 1509 earthquake. After that it was repaired, but was then damaged again by earthquakes in 1557 and 1754 and repaired yet again. It was then completely destroyed by an earthquake on 22 May 1766 when the main dome collapsed and the walls were irreparably damaged.

Commissioned by Sultan Mustafa III, the current mosque (designed on a completely different plan) was built between 1767 and 1771 by the architect Mehmet Tahir Ağa.

Limyra (in Greek Λιμύρα) was a small city in Lycia on the southern coast of Asia Minor, on the Limyrus River, and twenty stadia from the mouth of that river.It was a prosperous city, and one of the oldest cities in lycia. The city had rich and abundant soil, and gradually became one of the finest trade settlements in Greece. Pericles adopted it as the capital of the lycian league.

It is mentioned by Strabo (XIV, 666), Ptolemy (V, 3, 6) and several Latin authors. Gaius Caesar, adopted son of Augustus, died there (Velleius Paterculus, II, 102).

The ruins of Limyra are about 5 km northeast of the town of Finike (ancient Phoenicus) in Antalya Province, Turkey. They consist of a theatre, tombs, sarcophagi, bas-reliefs, Greek and Lycian inscriptions etc. About 3 km east of the site is the Roman Bridge at Limyra, one of the oldest segmental arch bridges of the world. mes,

Ecclesiastical history

Limyra is mentioned as a bishopric in Notitiæ Episcopatuum down to the 12th and 13th centuries as a suffragan of the metropolitan of Myra.

Six bishops are known: Diotimus, mentioned by St. Basil (ep. ccxviii); Lupicinus, present at the First Council of Constantinople, 381; Stephen, at the Council of Chalcedon (451); Theodore, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553; Leo, at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787; Nicephorus, at the so-called Photian Council of Constantinople (879).

In the Annuario Pontificio it is listed as a titular see of the Roman province of Lycia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limyra

www.exploreturkey.com/exptur.phtml?id=218

Antalya Museum;

www.antalyamuzesi.gov.tr/en/limyra-ruins

LMYRA VIDEO;

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIk_74e5d3c

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital, by Attic and Ionian Greek colonists. During the Classical Greek era, it was one of twelve cities that were members of the Ionian League. The city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BC.

The city was famous in its day for the nearby Temple of Artemis (completed around 550 BC), which has been designated one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its many monumental buildings included the Library of Celsus and a theatre capable of holding 24,000 spectators.

Ephesus was a recipient city of one of the Pauline epistles and one of the seven churches of Asia addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Gospel of John may have been written there, and it was the site of several 5th-century Christian Councils (Council of Ephesus). The city was destroyed by the Goths in 263. Although it was afterwards rebuilt, its importance as a port and commercial centre declined as the harbour was slowly silted up by the Küçükmenderes River. In 614, it was partially destroyed by an earthquake.

Today, the ruins of Ephesus are a favourite international and local tourist attraction, being accessible from Adnan Menderes Airport and from the resort town Kuşadası. In 2015, the ruins were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Fatih Mosque (Turkish: Fatih Camii, "Conqueror's Mosque" in English) is an Ottoman mosque off Fevzi Paşa Caddesi in the Fatih district of Istanbul, Turkey. The original mosque was constructed between 1463 and 1470 on the site of the Church of the Holy Apostles. Seriously damaged in the 1766 earthquake, it was rebuilt in 1771 to a different design. It is named after the Ottoman sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, known in Turkish as Fatih Sultan Mehmed, who conquered Constantinople in 1453.

The Sahn-ı Seman Medrese, once an important center for the study of theology, law, medicine, astronomy, physics and mathematics, formed part of the Fatih Mosque. It was founded by the Turkic astronomer Ali Qushji who had been invited by Mehmed to his court in Istanbul.

The mosque complex was completely restored in 2009 and again ten years later. It reopened to worshippers in 2021.

The Fatih Mosque complex was a religious and social building of unprecedented size and complexity built in Istanbul between 1463 and 1470 by order of Mehmed II. The 4th-century Church of the Holy Apostles was demolished to make way for the mosque. The Byzantine church had fallen into disrepair since the Fourth Crusade. Even though it was the cathedral church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarch was not permitted to carry out essential repairs to the structure. The church was the burial place of numerous Roman emperors, including Constantine the Great. Before the construction of the mosque, his sarcophagus had been placed in the middle of twelve other sarchophagi representing the Twelve Apostles, in the symbolic place of Christ.

The Fatih Mosque was the first monumental project in the Ottoman imperial architectural tradition. It was built by the Greek architect Atik Sinan.

The original complex included eight medreses, a library, a hospital (darüşşifa), a dervish inn (taphane), a caravanserai, a market, a hamam, a primary school (mektep) a public kitchen (imaret) for poor and a collection of 280 shops. Various tombs (türbes) were added at a later date. The original complex covered an almost square area of 325 metres (1,066 feet) extending along the Golden Horn side of Fevzi Paşa Caddesi.

The first mosque was badly damaged in the 1509 earthquake. After that it was repaired, but was then damaged again by earthquakes in 1557 and 1754 and repaired yet again. It was then completely destroyed by an earthquake on 22 May 1766 when the main dome collapsed and the walls were irreparably damaged.

Commissioned by Sultan Mustafa III, the current mosque (designed on a completely different plan) was built between 1767 and 1771 by the architect Mehmet Tahir Ağa.

Dalaman Airport (IATA: DLM, ICAO: LTBS) is an international airport and one of three serving southwest Turkey, the others being Milas–Bodrum Airport and Antalya Airport. It has two terminals. The old terminal is used for domestic flights and the new terminal is for international flights. The airport serves the surrounding tourist areas of Ölüdeniz, Dalyan, Fethiye, Hisarönü, Ovacık, Kaş, Kalkan and environs of Dalaman. Flights are available to and from over 120 destinations, across the rest of Turkey, Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, making it one of the busiest airports in the Middle East.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, straddling the Bosporus Strait, the boundary between Europe and Asia. It is considered the country's economic, cultural and historic capital. The city has a population of over 15 million residents, comprising 19% of the population of Turkey, and is the most populous city in Europe[c] and the world's sixteenth-largest city.

The city was founded as Byzantium in the 7th century BCE by Greek settlers from Megara. In 330 CE, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great made it his imperial capital, renaming it first as New Rome (Ancient Greek: Νέα Ῥώμη Nea Rhomē; Latin: Nova Roma) and then finally as Constantinople (Constantinopolis) after himself. In 1930, the city's name was officially changed to Istanbul, the Turkish rendering of εἰς τὴν Πόλιν eis tḕn Pólin 'to the City', the appellation Greek speakers used since the 11th century to colloquially refer to the city.

The city served as an imperial capital for almost 1600 years: during the Byzantine (330–1204), Latin (1204–1261), late Byzantine (1261–1453), and Ottoman (1453–1922) empires. The city grew in size and influence, eventually becoming a beacon of the Silk Road and one of the most important cities in history. The city played a key role in the advancement of Christianity during Roman/Byzantine times, hosting four of the first seven ecumenical councils before its transformation to an Islamic stronghold following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 CE—especially after becoming the seat of the Ottoman Caliphate in 1517.[ In 1923, after the Turkish War of Independence, Ankara replaced the city as the capital of the newly formed Republic of Turkey.

Istanbul was the 2010 European Capital of Culture. The city has surpassed London and Dubai to become the most visited city in the world, with more than 20 million foreign visitors in 2023. The historic centre of Istanbul is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city hosts the headquarters of numerous Turkish companies, accounting for more than thirty percent of the country's economy.

Neolithic artifacts, uncovered by archeologists at the beginning of the 21st century, indicate that Istanbul's historic peninsula was settled as far back as the 6th millennium BCE. That early settlement, important in the spread of the Neolithic Revolution from the Near East to Europe, lasted for almost a millennium before being inundated by rising water levels. The first human settlement on the Asian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500 to 3500 BCE. In the European side, near the point of the peninsula (Sarayburnu) there was a settlement during the early 1st millennium BCE. Modern authors have linked it to the possible Thracian toponym Lygos, mentioned by Pliny the Elder as an earlier name for the site of Byzantium.

There is evidence suggesting there were settlements around the region dating as far back as 6700 BC, and it is hard to define if there was any settlement on exact spot at city proper established, but earliest records about city proper begins around 660 BC when Greek settlers from the Attic town of Megara colonized the area and established Byzantium on the European side of the Bosphorus. It fell to the Roman Republic in 196 BC, and was known as Byzantium in Latin until 330, when the city, soon renamed as Constantinople, became the new capital of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Justinian I, the city rose to be the largest in the western world, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople functioned as the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which effectively ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Turks.

The population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, once again ranking among the world's most popular cities. With the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, that country's capital moved from Constantinople to Ankara (previously Angora).