Turkey At A Glance

Turkey is a wonderful place for tourists. Today we'll have a quick glance over some Turkish cities to prove this.

Harran is a district in the southeast of Turkey near the Syrian border.

Kids are hurrying to school. The school has only 2 or 3 stores and is overcrowded. That's why children have different timetables and lessons start at different time.

Traditional houses of Harran are used for living. They also contain souvenir shops and small cafes.

The castle ruins saw the Crusades and could acquire huge popularity in case of good restoration.

It is surrounded by the steel wire. Goats graze on stones. By the way, Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, used to live in Harran for some period of time.

Mardin is a wonderful town located near the traditional boundary of Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

Climbing the fortress in not allowed.

The Syrian valley looks like the green sea. Windows in every house of the town face the south following the Arabic manner.

Deyrul Zafarn Christian monastery is located several miles away Mardin. It stones are yellow that's why the name is translated as "saffron". Mardin had been a religious center for the Syrian orthodox church for a long period of time. Being here you will feel like you are in the south of Spain: few people, blue sky and yellow buildings are the same.

The Last Supper.

Diyarbakır is the largest city in southeastern Turkey. The Diyarbakır society sees and understands what terror means. Local people compare the region with Chechnya in Russia.

It seems the children have been taught to deal with weapons since early childhood.

The paved streets create the true atmosphere of the East.

The town is surrounded with old walls used to overview the neighborhood.

Hearts are seen all around.

It seems that the sign was shot at, proving the political situation is far from being stable.

In spite of the fact, all people here are friendly and smiling.

The view that opens from the castle in the eastern part of the town. Both the town and the fields can be observed. The Tiger river.

Tatvan is a city on Lake Van in eastern Turkey. The roads here are bad and still under construction. Menus at the restaurants that are in Turkish only are compensated for friendly and generous people who are willing to help.

Several times a day the streets of Bodrum town in Turkey are filled with the sound of praying. The namaz is heard some blocks aways from the minaret. It is easier today as speaker systems can be used and the mullah doesn't have to strain his voice.

Bodrum, home of the famous Greek historian Herodotus, is these days better known as a popular holiday resort.

The yachting port of Bodrum, at the southern end of Turkey's Aegean coast, boasts the ruins of the original Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, as well as the lofty Castle of St Peter, a Crusader fortress which now serves as the world's foremost Museum of Underwater Archeology.

The dome-like construction is a former water reservoir. At the times of the Ottoman Empire such constructions were used for gathering rainy water to irrigate fields and water animals in dry and hot summer.

The woman is selling lokma. It was sultan's favorite dish. The golden bubbles that are bathed with thick honey as they emerge from the crackling cauldron of hot oil and served immediately, dusted with aromatic cinnamon, are the glittering prize of a shopping trip.

The summer temperatures, which regularly exceed 30C, are one of the many reasons that people return here year after year to enjoy the sea.

Water reservoirs and solar batteries are located right on the roofs warming the water easily.

A few words about amulets. A blue eye which is oval or round in shape is the mostly widespread amulet in the east. It is called Nazar Bonjuk.
People here believe that an evil sight can turn a human life upside down. They think that blue eyes carry negative energy as they are seldom met here and use amulets in the form of blue eyes to get protected from evil. The larger the amulet is the more luck is expected.

Another amulet called the hand of Fatima also defends against the evil eye. It commemorates Fatima Zahra, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
Once she making halvah when her husband entered their house with a new wife as Islamal laws to have 4 wives. She got so upset that dropped the spoon into the boiling viand and continued mixing it with a bare hand. Since then the talisman has become a symbol of patience and loyalty.

via texnic and dimoxod