Mediterranean Region

29 July 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, French Riviera, European Union, Living, Working, Building, Sport, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  28 minutes

Monaco © Tobi 87/cc-by-sa-3.0

Monaco © Tobi 87/cc-by-sa-3.0

In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin, also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea, is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and warm to hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub vegetation.   read more…

Derinkuyu underground city in Turkey

28 March 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  7 minutes

Deep ventilation well © Nevit Dilmen/cc-by-sa-3.0

Deep ventilation well © Nevit Dilmen/cc-by-sa-3.0

The Derinkuyu underground city (Cappadocian Greek: Μαλακοπή / Malakopi; Turkish: Derinkuyu Yeraltı Şehri) is an ancient multi-level underground city of the Median Empire in the Derinkuyu district in Nevşehir Province, Turkey, extending to a depth of approximately 85 metres (280 ft). It is large enough to have sheltered as many as 20,000 people together with their livestock and food stores. It is the largest excavated underground city in Turkey and is one of several underground complexes found throughout Cappadocia.   read more…

Alaçatı in Turkey

21 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  9 minutes

© panoramio.com - Nihat1988/cc-by-3.0

© panoramio.com – Nihat1988/cc-by-3.0

Alaçatı is a part of İzmir on the Western coast of Turkey, often noted for its architecture, vineyards, windmills, and sea. Alaçatı is one of the most traditional towns in Turkey, with stone houses, narrow streets, boutique hotels and restaurants with tables on the streets. The area is also home to the Alaçatı yacht marina and the famous Port Alaçatı development, created by the French architect Francois Spoerry and his son, Yves Spoerry.   read more…

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day

24 April 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Chaojoker/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Chaojoker/cc-by-sa-3.0

Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day orArmenian Genocide Memorial Day is a public holiday in Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh and is observed by the Armenian diaspora on 24 April. It is held annually to commemorate the victims of the Armenian genocide of 1915. It was a series of massacres and starvation of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottomans. In Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, hundreds of thousands of people walk to the Tsitsernakaberd Genocide Memorial to lay flowers at the eternal flame.   read more…

Antakya in Turkey

9 July 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  9 minutes

© flickr.com - maarten sepp2011/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – maarten sepp2011/cc-by-sa-2.0

Antakya, historically known as Antioch, is the capital of Hatay Province, the southernmost province of Turkey. The city is located in a well-watered and fertile valley on the Orontes River, about 20 kilometers (12 mi) from the Levantine Sea. The cuisine of Antakya is renowned. Its cuisine is considered levantine rather than Turkish. The cuisine offers plenty of meals, where beef and lambs are mainly used. Popular dishes include the typical Turkish kebab, served with spices and onions in flat unleavened bread, with yoghurt as ali nazik kebab, oruk, kaytaz böreği and katıklı ekmek . Hot spicy food is a feature of this part of Turkey, along with Turkish coffee and local specialities.   read more…

Theme Week Turkey

18 April 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Theme Weeks, UNESCO World Heritage, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  2 minutes

Levent business district in Istanbul © Derrick Brutel/cc-by-sa-4.0

Levent business district in Istanbul © Derrick Brutel/cc-by-sa-4.0

Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian country located mainly on the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeastern Europe. East Thrace, the part of Turkey in Europe, is separated from Anatolia by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus and the Dardanelles (collectively called the Turkish Straits). Istanbul, which straddles Europe and Asia, is the largest city in the country, while Ankara is the capital. Turkey is bordered on its northwest by Greece and Bulgaria; north by the Black Sea; northeast by Georgia; east by Armenia, the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran; southeast by Iraq; south by Syria and the Mediterranean Sea; and west by the Aegean Sea. Approximately 70 to 80 percent of the country’s citizens identify as Turkish, while Kurds are the largest minority, at between 15 to 20 percent of the population.   read more…

Portrait: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and founder of the Republic of Turkey

26 June 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: Portrait, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during a coffee and smoking break (1936) © Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk during a coffee and smoking break (1936)
© Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish field marshal (Mareşal), revolutionary statesman, author, and founder of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President from 1923 until his death in 1938. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and theories became known as Kemalism.   read more…

European Historic Thermal Towns Association

19 April 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, EU blog post series, Bon voyage, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  11 minutes

Gellért Baths in Budapest © Joe Mabel/cc-by-sa-3.0

Gellért Baths in Budapest © Joe Mabel/cc-by-sa-3.0

The European Route of Historic Thermal Cities is a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. The route is supported by the European Historic Thermal Towns Association (EHTTA), founded in 2011, a nonprofit organization with currently 26 members in 11 European countries (including Turkey). In the spring of 2013 EHTTA was awarded the “Cultural Route of Europe” by the “European Institute of Cultural Routes”. The Press Office of the City of Baden-Baden calls the European Route of Historic Thermal Baths the European Bathing Route. Under the title Great Spas of Europe, some of these cities have been included in the UNESCO World Heritage.   read more…

Istanbul Cevahir Shopping and Entertainment Centre

6 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Shopping, Union for the Mediterranean Reading Time:  4 minutes

© Maurice07/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Maurice07/cc-by-sa-3.0

Istanbul Cevahir Shopping and Entertainment Centre, also known as Şişli Kültür ve Ticaret Merkezi (Şişli Culture and Trade Centre) is a modern shopping mall located on the Büyükdere Avenue in the Şişli district of Istanbul. Opened on 15 October 2005, Istanbul Cevahir was the largest shopping mall in Europe in terms of gross leasable area between 2005 and 2011, and is one of the largest in the world.   read more…

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