Filled with adventure and discovery, Turkish Tapestry is not a guidebook and contains no ratings of hotels, restaurants or must-see sites. It is an idiosyncratic reflection—on a contemporary Middle Eastern society that is both multicultural and Muslim. Asia Minor has seen more than seven millennia of human settlement and the modern nation of Turkey is heir to all of it.

Whether you’re already familiar with Turkey’s complex history or are simply wondering about those blue beads that ward off the evil eye, you’ll find that Turkish Tapestry shares thought-provoking and entertaining observations.

Extensive material on food, folk art, bazaars, ancient ruins, quirky personalities, ethnic groups, flora, fauna, and language will engage both old hands and first-time visitors.

Read an excerpt from Turkish Tapestry, A Traveller’s Portrait of Turkey:

The perfect cone of Hasan Dag rises against a few puffs of cumulus and a sky almost as blue as the mountain itself. Below lie the only amber waves of grain I know. I’ve never seen America’s great grasslands, but I recognize this extension of the steppes of Central Asia as the heartland of the country my heart has chosen.

Anatolian Plateau
Anatolian Plateau
Photo: Holly Chase

It takes a wide angle lens to encompass the Anatolian Plateau. Here, photographs taken with a normal lens are diminished in majesty; only optical distortion makes the landscape look right, the way I see it, even without a camera. The little red poppies and full-headed grain at my feet and the stones in the sheepfold half way up the distant slope seem in equally sharp focus, a neat trick. Mystics, monks, and dervishes have dwelt here for centuries. Surely, they have been bred by this plateau, where one need only raise a hand to touch the sky?

***