The Land of Fairy Chimneys

Turkey is difficult to understand from a map — it makes more sense from a table, because almost everything Turkey has become was already sitting around it: Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, Ottoman; European and Asian. It's not a crossroads so much as a country that absorbed everyone who passed through. This journey moves from the layered empire of Istanbul into the otherworldly volcanic valleys of Cappadocia, through the Sufi heart of Konya, past the white terraces of Pamukkale and the whole Roman city of Ephesus, out to the Aegean coast, and finally east across the Anatolian steppe to Kars — until Turkey stops being a set of facts and becomes what it really is: a civilization still happening.

Questions, or a problem with your itinerary? Just email hello.livingearthco@gmail.com — I read every message, and I stand behind what I make.