TURKEY
the main region of turkey is anatolia. it has experienced an enormous number of empires residing there or occupying it. during the time of more than 4000 years, this includes the accadian, assyrian, hittites, phrygian, persian, macedonian-greek, roman, byzantine, seljuq, and finally the ottoman empire. this fell apart after worldwar-1, and 1923 today's turkey was established. istanbul, an exceptionally famous city which is located in europe and asia and thereby connecting two worlds, has always been the 'heart' of the anatolian realms - being byzantium from 600 b.c. until 330, constantinopolis until 1453 (when the ottoman empire captured it), and then istanbul - which became only in 1930 its official name.
istanbul abounds with magnificent buildings ... the following preview shows just a few, such as the aya sofia, the blue mosque, the chora church, the historic city wall, and finally some byzantinian mosaics.
