merlin

thestar.com Malaysia

Nice article to share with you....

Turkey has a long and glorious history, even if it was not always known by its present name. LIM AI LEE explores Turkish delights from ancient Troy through the Ottoman centuries to the modern secular republic.

FOR many years during the Ottoman Empire (1299-1923), the women in Kusadasi, western Turkey, held on to one of their best-kept secrets – Ladies Beach.

It was only after the country became a republic in 1923 and, ironically, when women attained the right to vote, that men gained equal access to one of the prettiest stretches of the Aegean shore.

Ladies Beach in Kusadasi has been compared to Cannes in France and it’s not difficult to see why: the magnificent coastline is lapped by azure waters that mirror the cloudless skies.



The 1km stretch is popular not just with locals but also attracts many Europeans who stay at quaint little hotels along the beachfront or summer villas nearby. Like the rest of Kusadasi, the place has a typical Mediterranean climate, with long summers and mild winters.

Colourful umbrellas dot the entire length of the seaside and the place is often crowded with holidaymakers – men and women sunbathing or taking a dip in the sea. Turkish women wearing bikinis are not unusual here; nobody blinks an eye in this secular republic.

The resort is one of the many attractions of Kusadasi, which is reputed to be among the most interesting cities of the Aegean. The town is close to important historical sites such as the biblical city of Ephesus, Temple of Artemis, House of Virgin Mary, Seven Sleepers and several other historical ruins.

From Ladies Beach, our group of Malaysian journalists headed inland towards the nearby Bulbul Mountain to visit the house where Virgin Mary was believed to have spent her last few years following the crucifixion of Christ.

Most visitors had left when we arrived, just as daylight was filtering out. An air of calm and tranquillity enveloped the grounds and the stone chapel that stood on the hill.

The story of how the place was discovered borders on the mystical. In 1878, a paralysed German nun named Katherina Emmerich, who had never left her hometown, dreamt of Mary’s last dwelling place and was able to describe the location in vivid detail.

Thirteen years later, a group of priests from Izmir (east of Kusadasi) explored the mountains south of nearby Ephesus and came across the rustic building that matched the nun's description.

The house was converted into a chapel and became a popular pilgrimage place. Pope Paul VI visited the shrine in 1967, as did John-Paul II in the 1980s.

After spending a silent moment at the shrine of Mother Mary, we treaded down to the lower ground where several fountains supplied natural spring water. Having being told that the water would bless one with good health and fortune, we filled our empty mineral water bottles to the brim.

During our 10-day tour of the Western region of Turkey, we covered a distance of 4,000km by road and visited a number of interesting places, among them vibrant cities, historical marvels and natural wonders.

We stopped by at Izmir, Turkey's third most populated city , which was known as Smyrna in the old days and well known as the birthplace of the great Greek storyteller Homer.

Next, we checked out the Hellenistic splendour of Pergamum which included the ruins of the Temple of Athena and the famous library where 200,000 books were kept and later presented to Cleopatra as a wedding gift.

Moving east to Konya, we stepped into a 13th century mausoleum-turned-museum dedicated to mystic Muslim philosopher Mevlana who founded the Sufi Order, also known as the Whirling Dervishes. In this striking green-tiled museum lay a small chest in which the beard of the Prophet Muhammad was purportedly kept.

The central region of Cappadocia boasts of cave towns and gorges with extraordinary landscapes of rock formations. Over the centuries, the weather had sculpted soft volcanic stones into amazing multi-hued spires and pinnacles.

Early Christians fleeing Roman persecution apparently sought refuge in numerous caves here around the second century, and again during the Arab invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries. The cave inhabitants had carved hundreds of churches and monasteries out of solid rock, many of which remain till this day.

On the way north to the capital, Ankara, we took a midday stroll on Tuz Golu, a large lake that had evaporated in summer and looked more like a snow-covered park. Covering 1,500 square kilometres, it is Turkey’s second biggest salt lake and one of the world’s richest salt beds, producing 300,000 tonnes of salt per year.

No visit to the country would have been complete without a trip to Istanbul, the cultural hub of Turkey. Here, we visited the much-talked about Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sofia Museum, the Topkapi Palace and Sultan’s Harem and took a cruise down the Bosphorus Straits, the narrow divide between the continents of Asia and Europe.

Except for rain on our first night in Turkey, we were blessed with clear blue skies throughout our journey that provided a picture perfect backdrop of this awesome land.