Istanbul, previously known as Constantinople, and before that as Byzantium, has played a key role in world politics for two millennia – as the capital of two enormous empires, the Byzantines and the Ottomans. It’s the only major city in…
Bodrum and Ephesus
Bodrum is the centre of the Turkish Riviera, it’s where the jetsetters and rich party crowd go during summer to cut loose with fun in the sun. The harbour is a forest of yacht masts, and the town is typically…
The Turquoise Coast
The Turquoise Coast stretches along the southwestern extremity of Turkey, and contains everything you’d want in a holiday-destination stretch of coastline: gorgeous beaches, clear bright blue water, ancient ruins, bustling tourist towns and sleepy forgotten villages. Just down the…
Konya to the Coast
Although the winter chills had eased as we pushed west, it was still too cold for our liking. We followed in the footsteps of rich Europeans everywhere, by heading south to the Mediterranean Sea. Along the way, we passed through…
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a region where both the landscape and the cultural history are unique; each has been shaped by the other in a symbiotic way. The region has an incredibly long history, forming the heartland of one of the earliest…
Eastern Anatolia
After an uneventful border crossing, we arrived in our 18th country, and the last one (for the moment) in Asia – Turkey. The cold weather that we suffered through in Northern Iran had followed us, but at least now the…
Tehran, the Caspian Coast, and Iran’s North
Tehran, the capital of Iran, is a huge, bustling modern city. It lacks much of the ancient history of Shiraz or Isfahan, but makes up for it with a depth of history from the 18th Century onwards, and as the…
Isfahan
Isfahan is Iran’s third largest city, and has one of the longest and most complex histories – acting as the capital of Persia during two separate periods. Over three millennia, the city’s fortunes have waxed and waned under dozens of…
Shiraz and the Zagros Mountains
Arriving in Shiraz, we took a day or two to catch our breath, not doing a huge amount of exploring – after a while, just being on the road takes it out of you! We had a wander through the…
Ashes of the Achaemenids
Approaching Shiraz in Southern Iran, you enter the heartland of the ancient Achaemenid Empire. At its peak, it stretched over a demesne as far west as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, south as far as Egypt and Sudan, north to…