Turkish Recipes and Cuisine

Turkey is in a unique geographical position, straddling both Europe and Asia, and thus the national cuisine combines both European and Asian influences. In fact, Turkish cuisine owes much of its heritage to the cuisine of the vast Ottoman Empire, which encompassed not only what is today modern Turkey, but also territories in the Middle East, North Africa and southern Europe. As a result of this Ottoman heritage, Turkish cuisine combines influences from Arab and Middle Eastern cuisine, as well as Armenian cuisine, Greek cuisine, and Persian cuisine, with traditional Turkic elements from Central Asia such as yogurt.

Lycia - Sailing Through the Centuries - A Cultural Gulet Cruise in Turkey

Lycia in southern Turkey is packed with some of the finest wonders of the world, with a coastline perfect for sailing. Today there is a whole raft of nautical charts and coastal pilots available for people cruising there. Yet only 200 years ago this coast in the Eastern Mediterranean was a complete blank on the earth's atlases. The man we have to thank for its transformation, for literally putting this part of Turkey on the map, is a celebrated figure in all things maritime. His name is an absolute constant on shipping forecasts and various instruments, for it became the scale on which all winds are rated: Beaufort.

Of course the coast of Lycia was well known and used long before Francis Beaufort, a British Admiral, began his survey in 1810. It was directly on one of the main shipping routes in antiquity, the way between Greece and Egypt and in Christian times on the pilgrim trail from Constantinople to Jerusalem. Anybody who was anybody in ancient times seems to have sailed along its coast or changed ships there - from Anthony and Cleopatra to St. Paul, Brutus to Hadrian.

The Turkish Angora Cat

The Turkish Angora is a natural cat breed, and has resided for centuries around the city of Ankara in Turkey. It shares similarities with Turkish Van and Persian. As a matter of fact the Turkish Angora was used heavily for the development of the modern Persian. So much so that nearly all purebred cats were lost. Fortunately this beautiful cat was declared a national treasure in its native land and a dedicated breeding program was initiated. Thus the Turkish Angora was preserved and in coming years found its way to other parts of Europe. It gained recognition in United States in nineteen sixties. However, only white colors were accepted initially and it was not until a decade later that all colors except for the pointed variants were included in cat fancies.