"Turkey" a Turkey Travel Page by John195123

What a place! So much of what we hear about in history happened here, and much of it is still here to take us back to that era, whenever it happened to be. Turkey is a history book, alive and well.

Our trip was too short, but long enough to drive the east coast, go inland a ways, then fly out to Van so we could drive to Dogubayazit and climb Agri Dagi... minus the correct letters, that is the same as Mount Ararat.

Placenames like Troy conjure memories of high school history's battles we ignored, yet bring them to life... albeit with a corny full-scale model of a horse, into whose crotch you can ascend.

The Bosphorus, one of the strategic waterways of the world and divider of continents and a city, runs from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea ( through the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea. In Turkish it is called "Bogazici". The straight was likely fully formed after an earthquake, which aren't uncommon in the area, loosened the land keeping the Bosphorus waters from reaching the Black Sea. The ensuing flood could be the Biblical flood of Noah's story, and at the very least did submerge some cities, as the inland Black Sea's level was below that of the Sea of Marmara.

Averaging a depth of about 200 feet, the Bosphorus is an essential trade route, with shipping, cruises and pleasure craft splitting the surface around the clock.