Exploring Turkey

I visited Turkey for the first time fee weeks ago and it was such a wonderful experience.
Turkey is a big Country in terms of land Mass not as big as Nigeria though but it us huge in comparism to neighboring countries(about 700,000 sqr km). It's diverse in culture, language, religion and even geographical local (part is located in Asia and the other part in Europe).
In Turkey you have the Turks, kurds, minority Arabs,amanians .
I visited 3 cities during my stay Antayka , Gaziantep and Istanbul.

Antayka is located in Hatay province of southern Turkey, it's bordered by the meditarian sea and Idleb Governorate of Northwest Syria( less than 1 hour drive to Syria) the border is closed because of the war, I was told by my Turkish friend that prior to the war people do go too idleb for groceries and vegetables because they are cheaper compared to Antakya.
Antakya has a beautiful landscape, it's a mountanious region and the city is situated in a valley with the famous Orontes river running across the center of the city onto Syria.
I didn't do much sightseeing here though as I was there for work related visit.
Enjoy the few shots

Orontes river

Sunset

Falafel hummus, this is generic food in the middle East.
You have the falefel balls (looks like beans cake) the hummus with olive oil(yummy), the flat bread and some vegetables.

I am a foodie though

Orontes river during the day

Downtown

Next stop.... Gaziantep
UNESCO gastronomy City
One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world
Wooden mosque 15th century
Ottoman empire stronghold

Antep

jerikoyan:
I visited Turkey for the first time fee weeks ago and it was such a wonderful experience.
Turkey is a big Country in terms of land Mass not as big as Nigeria though but it us huge in comparism to neighboring countries(about 700,000 sqr km). It's diverse in culture, language, religion and even geographical local (part is located in Asia and the other part in Europe).
In Turkey you have the Turks, kurds, minority Arabs,amanians .
I visited 3 cities during my stay Antayka , Gaziantep and Istanbul.

Really fascinated by this thread and i gave it a follow. Nice one sir. Did you go from Germany?

Thanks bro, no I flew from Amman Jordan to Istanbul then Antakya.
Then road trips to gaziantep from Antakya twice.

clapper04:

Really fascinated by this thread and i gave it a follow. Nice one sir. Did you go from Germany?

Wooden mosque

Gaziantep
Also called Antep is the sixth most populous city in Turkey, it's well know For it's wide ranges of delicious cuisine (over 400 UNESCO recognized dishes are indigenous to Gaziantep).
It is also an industrial city, it is famous for it's Castle museum which dates back to the ww1 and the ottoman empire.

Downtown shops

⛅

As usual I have to try the food. I got the smoked lamp dipped in yoghurt

The Ottomans

Gaziantep Castle, is a castle first built by the Hittite Empire as an observation point and later built into a main castle by the Roman Empire on top of a hill in the center of Gaziantep, Turkey in 2nd and 3rd century AD. It underwent further expansion and renovation under Emperor Justinianus between 527 and 565 AD.The circumference of the round shaped castle is 1200 meters. The walls are built of stone and the castle consists of 12 towers.

The castle has been renovated numerous times and took its final shape in 2000. Today, the castle is used as the Gaziantep Defence and Heroism Panoramic Museum, and a documentary regarding the defence of the city against the invading French troops after the fall of the Ottoman Empire runs periodically.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaziantep

Gaziantep Castle

View of the city from the castle

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Next stop Istanbul.
I visited the famous blue mosque and couple of places.

Jerikoyan,
I totally enjoyed viewing your thread.
You are a serious Gallivanter or Hodophile.
Travelling is mad FUN!

Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed viewing my thread, I am more a Gallivanted than a Hodophile when work permits me to travel I make sure I also enjoy and explore the Country.

ferhyntorlah:
Jerikoyan,

I totally enjoyed viewing your thread.

You are a serious Gallivanter or Hodophile.

Travelling is mad FUN!

Rooftop view today Amman

Compliment of the season to you all, been a bit busy lately.
I didn't do much exploring since my last post, but I still have pictures from my last visit to Turkey.
I visited Jerash few weeks ago and I have some amazing pictures to share.
Jerash is located in Jordan, the city in one of the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world which dates back as far as 7500 BC.